WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty’s (R-Tenn.) Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act of 2021 (S. 488), legislation to enable congressional review of executive branch proposals to terminate or waive sanctions imposed with respect to Iran.
“It’s increasingly clear that the Biden Administration’s promises to ‘lengthen and strengthen’ the Iran nuclear deal are instead an attempt to re-enter the flawed 2015 JCPOA at any cost,” said Risch. “That’s why I have co-sponsored the Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act. This bill would require Congress to approve any Biden Administration effort to lift sanctions against the Iranian regime.
“The United States currently maintains a position of significant leverage with Iran because our sanctions are working. Given that reality, the administration should keep its promises to address the JCPOA’s looming sunsets, as well as Iran’s regional terrorism, ballistic missile activity, and wrongful imprisonment of Americans.
“If President Biden wants a lasting Iran policy that transcends administrations, he should pursue an approach that will have bipartisan support.”
Risch recently led the ranking members of the Senate Armed Services, Intelligence, Banking, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees in a letter to President Biden outlining Republican policy on effectively addressing the challenge posed by Iran. Text of the letter can be found here.
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