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Washington, D.C. — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia Chairman Joe Wilson (R-SC), Subcommittee on Europe Chairman Thomas Kean Jr. (R-NJ), and Representative Keith Self (R-TX) co-led a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for a permanent end to sanctions waivers exempting certain types of nuclear cooperation with Iran from sanctions under the Iran Freedom and Counter Proliferation Act (IFCA).

“Continuing to issue these waivers clearly does not serve U.S. nonproliferation objectives or national security interests, ” the lawmakers wrote. “For this reason, the Biden administration rightly chose not to extend waivers under IFCA exempting certain JCPOA-linked projects in Iran, including those supported by Russia’s Rosatom, from sanctions when they lapsed in January 2024. This was a welcome step, but we remain concerned that by failing to take a clear stance on this, the administration is leaving the door open to future sanctions relief on Iran despite the potential benefits for Vladmir Putin’s war machine.”

The full text of the letter can be found here and below. 

Dear Secretary Blinken,

We write to underscore our ongoing concern over the Biden administration’s failure to hold Iran to account for its nuclear provocation. Since 2021, this administration has extended significant financial relief to entice Iran to agree to a new nuclear deal. This includes reinstating sanctions waivers terminated by the previous administration like ones carving out nuclear projects in Iran from sanctions under the Iran Freedom and Counter Proliferation Act (IFCA).

These waivers were designed to “improve ongoing oversight of Iran’s civil nuclear program” to ensure it remained strictly peaceful. Far from keeping Iran’s nuclear hostilities in check, we’ve seen Iran, backed by Russia’s Rosatom, dramatically increase its provocative, destabilizing nuclear activity in violation of its Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) commitments, while also curtailing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visibility into key nuclear sites in Iran since the administration restored these waivers.

Iran’s stockpiling of highly enriched uranium and continued installation of advanced IR-6 centrifuges undermines any claim of Iran maintaining an exclusively peaceful nuclear program. Iran is now capable of producing seven bombs worth of fissile material in a month. This level of enrichment has no justifiable civilian purpose.

Moreover, Iran continues to block the IAEA’s ability to verify the peaceful use of all nuclear materials in Iran. Its failure to provide adequate answers to outstanding questions regarding undeclared nuclear material found at sites in Iran, and de-designation of IAEA investigators this past fall, raise further concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and our adversaries’ role in enabling it.

Continuing to issue these waivers clearly does not serve U.S. nonproliferation objectives or national security interests. For this reason, the Biden administration rightly chose not to extend waivers under IFCA exempting certain JCPOA-linked projects in Iran, including those supported by Russia’s Rosatom, from sanctions when they lapsed in January 2024. This was a welcome step, but we remain concerned that by failing to take a clear stance on this, the administration is leaving the door open to future sanctions relief on Iran despite the potential benefits for Vladmir Putin’s war machine.

This administration must clearly commit to facing the Iranian threat head on and uphold longstanding U.S. policy of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran. This must include publicly clarifying the termination of IFCA waivers and utilizing the full scope of the law, including mandatory sanctions provided for under IFCA, to restrict any form of support for Iran’s nuclear program. As General Michael Kurilla noted in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, “an Iran with a nuclear weapon would change the Middle East overnight and forever.”

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