BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement regarding the president’s announcement that the United States will ask the UN Security Council to restore all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, triggering a “snapback” of sanctions related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA):
“I concur with the Trump Administration’s decision to initiate a 'snapback' of sanctions on Iran, something I have urged them to do, following the UN Security Council’s failure to extend a 13-year-old arms embargo against Iran last week, which paves the way for the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism to buy and sell weapons.
“I am disappointed that our European colleagues, despite their concerns over Iranian behavior, have made a conscious choice to stand on the sidelines in order to support a nuclear deal which Iran has clearly breached. Our European friends promised us when the deal was made that they would join us in enforcing the snapback provisions. The sunset on the Iran arms embargo is one of the reasons why I opposed then President Obama’s flawed nuclear deal. We will face a similar ill-conceived sunset on Iran’s ballistic missile activity in three short years.
“An unconstrained Iran poses a grave threat to the international community. The Iranian regime threatens its neighbors with ballistic missiles, conducts terrorist maritime activity in international waters, unlawfully detains American citizens, and fuels proxy conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon.
“As the UN’s own watchdog has reported, Iran’s violations of the nuclear deal are well known. A snapback of sanctions would make the region and the world safer. The international community must resist the urge to postpone this necessary action yet again. The UN’s own credibility to deter further proliferation is on the line.”
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