<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
At the same time, I am convinced that we should only relieve pressure on Iran in exchange for verifiable concessions that will dismantle Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Our success should be measured in years, not months.<\/p>\n
And that it be done in such a way that alarm bells will sound \u2014 from Vienna to Washington, Moscow and Beijing \u2014 should Iran restart its program anytime in the next 20 to 30 years. I\u2019m here to unequivocally state my intention \u2013 as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee \u2013 to make absolutely certain that any deal the Administration reaches with Iran is verifiable, effective, and prevents them from ever developing even one nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s remember that \u2013 while we in the Senate are not at the negotiating table \u2013 we have a tremendous stake in the outcome and an obligation, as a separate co-equal branch of government representing the American people, to provide oversight and an expression of what we expect as to what the end result should be.<\/p>\n
But, it\u2019s the Administration that is at the negotiating table with the Iranians \u2013 not us; and it\u2019s the Administration that\u2019s ultimately responsible for negotiating a deal to conclusively end Iran\u2019s illicit nuclear program and it\u2019s the Administration that will have to come back to Congress and tell us whether Iran will continue to be a nuclear threshold state.<\/p>\n
My sincere desire is for the Administration to succeed. Nobody has worked harder for a peaceful outcome or to get Iran to comply with sanctions than I have.<\/p>\n
Based on the parameters described in the Joint Plan of Action and Iranian comments in the days that have followed I am very concerned. This is not a nothing-ventured-nothing-gained enterprise.<\/p>\n
We have placed our incredibly effective international sanctions regime on the line without clearly defining the parameters of what we expect in a final agreement.<\/p>\n
As Ali Akbar Salehi, the Head of Iran\u2019s nuclear agency said last month on Iranian state television about the agreement, \u201cThe iceberg of sanctions is melting while our centrifuges are also still working. This is our greatest achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, Mr. President, it\u2019s my greatest fear. Any final deal must require Iran to dismantle large portions of its illicit nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Any final deal must require Iran to halt its advanced centrifuge R&D activities, reduce the vast majority of its 20,000 centrifuges, close the Fordow facility, stop the heavy-water reactor at Arak from ever possibly coming on-line. And it should require Iran\u2019s full-disclosure of its nuclear activities \u2014 including its weaponization activities.<\/p>\n
For the good of the region and the world, Iran cannot remain a nuclear threshold state.<\/p>\n
A final agreement should move back the timeline for nuclear breakout capability to beyond-a-year \u2014 or more and insist on a long-term, 20 year plus, monitoring and verification agreement. That is the only way to force Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons aspirations.<\/p>\n
Anything less will leave Iran on the cusp of becoming a nuclear state while it re-builds its economy and improves its ability to break-out at a future date.<\/p>\n
David Albright \u2014 a respected former IAEA Inspector \u2013 has said that for Iran to move from an interim to a final agreement, it would have to close the Fordow facility and remove between 15,000 and 16,000 of its 20,000 centrifuges.<\/p>\n
Even after such dramatic steps, we are looking at a breakout time of between 6 and 8 months, depending on whether Iran has access to uranium enriched to just 3.5 percent \u2013 or access to 20 percent enriched uranium.<\/p>\n
Dennis Ross \u2014 one of America\u2019s preeminent diplomats and foreign policy analysts who as served under Democratic and Republican Presidents \u2014 has said Iran should retain no more than 10 percent of its centrifuges \u2013 no more than 2,000.<\/p>\n
These estimates are crucial because, at the end of the day, we \u2013 in this body \u2014 will have to decide whether this is enough to merit terminating sanctions.<\/p>\n
Is a 6 month delay in Iran\u2019s breakout ability enough, even when combined with a robust 20 years inspection and verification regime?<\/p>\n
Understanding that in allowing Iran to retain its enrichment capabilities, there will always be a risk of breakout.<\/p>\n
It may be \u2014 that is the only deal we can get. The real question is whether it is a good enough deal to merit terminating sanctions.<\/p>\n
My concern is that the Joint Plan of Action does not speak to these recommended centrifuge limitations Dennis Ross suggests. In fact, Iran has already made its views about the limitations of the agreement quite clear.<\/p>\n
What the Joint Plan of Action does concede is that Iran will not only retain its ability to enrich \u2013 but will be allowed a mutually agreed upon enrichment program.<\/p>\n
Here is what Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister, Zarif has said about the interim agreement:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe White House tries to portray it as basically a dismantling of Iran\u2019s nuclear program. We are not dismantling any centrifuges, we\u2019re not dismantling any equipment, we\u2019re simply not producing, not enriching over 5 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Rouhani was adamant in an interview on CNN that Iran will not be dismantling its centrifuges.<\/p>\n
And, in an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN, President Rouhani said: \u201cWe are determined to provide for the nuclear fuel of such plants inside the country, at the hands of local Iranian scientists. We are going to follow on this path.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fareed Zakaria then asked him: \u201cSo there will be no destruction of centrifuges \u2014 of existing centrifuges?\u201d<\/p>\n
To which Rouhani said: \u201cNo. No, not at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, Iran\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi said that Iran would comply with the interim agreement by removing the connections between networks of centrifuges that have been used to enrich uranium to 20 percent, so that they can enrich only to 5 percent and he said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThese interconnections can be removed in a day and connected again in a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clearly, their intentions to retain their capability \u2013 notwithstanding the agreement \u2014 are clear.<\/p>\n
And in January, Hassan Rouhani tweeted: \u201cOur relationship with the world is based on Iranian nation\u2019s interest. In Geneva agreement, world powers surrendered to Iranian nation\u2019s will.\u201d<\/p>\n
When this tweet was broadly reported-on, Rouhani took it down.<\/p>\n
And in a speech when Rouhani was leaving his post as Iran\u2019s chief nuclear negotiator in 2005, he said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we were talking with the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in parts of the [uranium conversion] facility in Isfahan, but we still had a long way to go to complete the project. In fact, by creating a calm environment, we were able to complete the work on Isfahan.\u201d<\/p>\n
I find these comments deeply troubling. I find the fact that \u2014 even after an agreement was reached in November \u2014 the Iranians reportedly fired a rocket into space to improve their ability to develop a long-range ballistic missile system.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Reuters, U.S. missile defense expert, Riki Ellison, said of the report: \u201cIf it\u2019s true, they continue to expand and grow their long range missile capabilities regardless of their overture to the West with self-reduction of their nuclear capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
These realities \u2013 these statements \u2013 these actions \u2013 are just as much about the spirit of the interim deal as it is about the letter of the deal and places in question the political will of the Iranians \u2014 and our ability to reach a verifiable agreement with those who have been so willing to deceive.<\/p>\n
In terms of both Iran\u2019s political will and its ballistic missile capability, James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, said: \u201cTehran has made technical progress in a number of areas \u2014 including uranium enrichment, nuclear reactors, and ballistic missiles \u2014 from which it could draw if it decided to build missile-deliverable nuclear weapons. These technical advancements strengthen our assessment that Iran has the scientific, technical, and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons. This makes the central issue its political will to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what that analysis reveals is that \u2013 years of obfuscation, delay, and endless negotiation \u2013 has brought them to the point of having \u2013 according to the Director of National Intelligence \u2013 the scientific, technical, and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
As to their will to do so, I would say that what they are hiding at Parchin Military Industrial Complex \u2013 if revealed, would clearly show their will is to build a nuclear bomb. The only thing that has thwarted that will is crippling sanctions.<\/p>\n
In my view, the Iranians are negotiating in bad faith, as we have seen them do in the past.<\/p>\n
They say one thing behind closed doors in Geneva, and say another thing publically.<\/p>\n
I know the Administration will say this is what President Rouhani needs to do for his domestic audience, but his deeds need to go beyond his words, and they need to be verifiable.<\/p>\n
In fact, in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, David Albright of the Institute of Science and International Security and an expert on the proliferation of atomic weapons, said that under the interim agreement:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe breakout time, if Iran used its currently installed centrifuges, would lengthen from at least 1 to 1.6 months to at least 1.9 to 2.2 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
That effectively means, without dismantling currently installed centrifuges, Iran has a breakout time of 6 to 8 weeks unless we demand real concessions in a final agreement.<\/p>\n
Another major concern is the Arak heavy water reactor \u2014 a facility that Dennis Ross has described as \u201cgrossly inefficient for producing electricity, but not for generating plutonium for nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senate was told that the facility would be taken care of in the final agreement \u2013 which most of us understood to mean it would be dismantled.<\/p>\n
Now, the Joint Plan of Action and the implementing agreement suggest something less than dismantlement.<\/p>\n
The implementing agreement says Iran has to \u201ctake steps to agree with the IAEA on the conclusion of a safeguards approach to Arak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran has not provided required design information for Arak \u2014 and in the final agreement it seems possible that either Iran will be allowed to complete the reactor and operate it under IAEA safe-guards or the reactor will be simply mothballed \u2013 not dismantled \u2013 mothballed or perhaps converted to a light-water facility which carries its own risks.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister has said that the Arak reactor is the fastest way to get the material for a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
So, while I understand the agreement also does not permit Iran to construct a related reprocessing facility at this time, the implication of the agreement\u2019s language is that the final agreement will not actually require the dismantling of the Arak reactor, meaning that Arak could \u2014 at a future date \u2014 give Iran a relatively quick path to a weapon.<\/p>\n
I find that simply unacceptable.<\/p>\n
In my view, Iran\u2019s strategy, consistent with their past approaches that have brought them to a nuclear threshold state, is to use these negotiations to mothball its nuclear infrastructure program just long enough to undo the international sanctions regime.<\/p>\n
Iran is insisting on keeping core elements of its programs \u2013 enrichment, the Arak heavy-water reactor, the underground Fordow facility, and the Parchin military complex.<\/p>\n
And, while they may be subject to safeguards \u2014 so they can satisfy the international community in the short-run \u2013 if they are allowed to retain their core infrastructure, they could quickly revive their program sometime in the future.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Iran is seeking to reverse the harsh international sanctions regimes against them.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: They dismantle nothing. We gut the sanctions.<\/p>\n
Troubling signs have already appeared.<\/p>\n
Since the interim deal was signed there was an immediate effort by many nations \u2013 including many European nations \u2014 to revive trade and resume business with Iran.<\/p>\n
There have been recent headlines that the Russians may be seeking a barter deal that could increase Iran\u2019s oil exports by 50 percent.<\/p>\n
That Iran and Russia are negotiating an oil-for-goods deal worth $1.5 billion a month \u2014 $18 billion a year \u2013 which would significantly boost Iran\u2019s oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day in exchange for Russian goods.<\/p>\n
A coalition of France\u2019s largest companies are visiting Tehran. Iran welcomed more than 100 executives from France\u2019s biggest firms on Monday, the most senior French trade mission in years.<\/p>\n
And, since November there have been 20-plus trade delegations from Turkey, Georgia, Ireland, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, China, Italy, India, Austria, and Sweden.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s economy is recovering.<\/p>\n
The Iranian rial \u2014 which had plummeted from an official rate of 10,440 rials to the dollar to a staggering 41,000 in October 2012 \u2014 has begun to recover. As of January 29, that rate is about 25,000 rials to the dollar. International Monetary Fund figures also show Iran\u2019s negative growth rate turning around, with Iran having a projected growth rate of 1.28 to almost 2 percent in 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n
As Mark Dubowitz, Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week, the $7 billion in actual relief Iran will definitively receive under the Joint Plan of Action is very significant \u2013 comprising approximately 35 percent of Iran\u2019s fully accessible cash reserves, which are estimated to be $20 billion.<\/p>\n
So, while the Iranian economy is accurately described as being much larger, the assessment that this is a drop in the bucket is simply not accurate.<\/p>\n
Moreover, that relief fails to consider the $4-5 billion in revenue that Iran would have lost if we had not suspended sanctions on Iran\u2019s crude oil exports.<\/p>\n
Sanctions relief \u2014 combined with the \u201copen for business sign\u201d that Iran is posting \u2014 is paying returns.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that the sanctions regime we\u2019ve worked so hard to build is starting to unravel before we ever get a chance to conclude a final agreement with Iran.<\/p>\n
The fact is any final deal as inadequate as the one I\u2019ve outlined, will end any pressure on Iran for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
Put simply, we need a policy that guarantees Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons capability.<\/p>\n
To understand how to proceed, we must understand the facts. We need to put the negotiating into context.<\/p>\n
First, Iran has a history of duplicity with respect to its nuclear program, using past negotiations to cover up advances in its nuclear program and \u2014 most startlingly \u2014 at the undeclared Fordow enrichment site, buried deep in a mountain to prevent its discovery and potential destruction.<\/p>\n
That begs the obvious question: Why would someone bury such a facility so deep that it could not be discovered if it was solely for peaceful purposes?<\/p>\n
It seems unlikely \u2013 as Iran\u2019s leaders have made clear in recent days \u2014 that Iran will make any concessions that fundamentally dismantle its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
The fact is Iran is simply agreeing to lock the door on its nuclear weapons program \u2013 as is \u2013 and walk away and should they later walk away from a deal as they have in the past, they can simply unlock the door and continue their nuclear weapons program from where they are today.<\/p>\n
Sounds a lot like North Korea.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not forget that President Rouhani, as the former negotiator for Iran, boasted: \u201cThe day that we invited the three European ministers to the talks, only 10 centrifuges were spinning at Natanz. We could not produce one gram of U4 or U6. We did not have the heavy water production. We could not produce yellow cake.<\/p>\n
Our total production of centrifuges inside the country was 150. We wanted to complete all of these \u2013 we needed time. We did not stop. We completed the program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The simple truth is he admitted to deceiving the West.<\/p>\n
Given President Rouhani\u2019s own words on his country\u2019s nuclear weapons ambition, it seems to me that a \u201cgood deal\u201d is not one that equates dismantling with mothballing. A \u201cgood deal\u201d would prevent Iran from being able to get back to work on its nuclear weapons program from where it left off.<\/p>\n
Second, despite diplomatic entreaties to the Iranians in recent years \u2013 where hands were extended and secret talks were pursued \u2013 Iran has grown its support and advocacy for terror.<\/p>\n
The history of Iranian terror against U.S. citizens and interests is lengthy and robust, grounded in the view that the United States is the Great Satan \u2014 and it\u2019s funding and support of Hezbollah that has carried out attacks against American interests.<\/p>\n
241 American servicemen died in the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Lebanon, 19 in Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
In recent years, we\u2019ve traced responsibility for lethal actions against American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to Iran, as well as the fortunately thwarted attack on the Saudi Ambassador at a Washington restaurant in 2011.<\/p>\n
Today, Iran is actively sponsoring a proxy war in Syria sending money, weapons and fighters on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n
Simultaneously, it is sponsoring attacks against Sunnis in Iraq and promoting regional sectarian violence that could easily result in a broader regional conflict.<\/p>\n
While smiling at our negotiators across the table, they are simultaneously plotting in the backroom.<\/p>\n
With all of this in mind, I believe in the wisdom of the prospective sanctions I proposed. I believe in the lessons of history that tell us Iran cannot be trusted to live up to its word without external pressure. I believe that an insurance policy that guards against Iranian obfuscation and deception is the best way forward.<\/p>\n
My legislation \u2013 cosponsored by 59 Senators \u2013 would simply require that Iran act in good faith, adhering to the implementing agreement, not engage in new acts of terror against American citizens or U.S, property \u2014 and not conduct new ballistic missile tests with a range beyond 500 kilometers.<\/p>\n
The legislation is not the problem. Congress is not the problem. Iran is the problem. We need to worry about Iran, not the Congress.<\/p>\n
We need to focus on Iran\u2019s long history of deception surrounding its nuclear program and how this should inform our approach to reaching a comprehensive deal.<\/p>\n
To those who believe that \u2014 if negotiations do not result in a deal or if Iran breaks the deal \u2014 we can always impose new sanctions then let me be clear: if negotiations fail, or if Iran breaks the deal, we won\u2019t have time to pass new sanctions.<\/p>\n
New sanctions are not a spigot that can be turned off-and-on as has been suggested.<\/p>\n
Even if Congress were to take-up and pass new sanctions at the moment of Iran\u2019s first breach of the Joint Plan of Action, there is a lag time of at least 6 months to bring those sanctions on line \u2014 and at least a year for the real impact to be felt.<\/p>\n
This would bring us beyond the very short-time Iran would need to build a nuclear bomb, especially since the interim agreement does not require them neither to dismantle anything, and freezes their capability as it stands today.<\/p>\n
So let everyone understand \u2013 if there is no deal we won\u2019t have time to impose new sanctions before Iran could produce a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
Everyone agrees that the comprehensive sanctions policy against Iran \u2013 which was led by Congress and originally opposed by the Administration \u2014 has been an unquestionable, success.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s oil exports fell to 1.1 million barrels a day in the first 9 months of 2013 \u2013 down from 1.5 million barrels in 2012.<\/p>\n
The fall in exports was costing Iran between $4 billion and $8 billion a month in 2013 and the loss of oil revenue had caused the rial to lose two-thirds of its value against the dollar, and caused inflation to rise to more than 40 percent.<\/p>\n
There is no dispute or disagreement that it was the economic impact of sanctions that has brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place.<\/p>\n
But passing those sanctions and having them in place long enough to be effective took time we no longer have.<\/p>\n
The question now is whether our goals align. Has the ideology of the regime altered so substantially in the last 6 months that they are suddenly ready to forswear a 20 year effort to develop nuclear weapons or are they, as the Supreme leader has stated, seeking to beat us at the game of diplomacy \u2013 \u201cto negotiate with the Devil to eliminate its evil\u201d \u2014 and retain their nuclear threshold and enriching abilities while degrading the sanctions regime.<\/p>\n
And let\u2019s not forget that it\u2019s the Ayatollah who holds the nuclear portfolio and his main goal is preservation of the regime.<\/p>\n
It is the Ayatollah who gave the green light to Rouhani to negotiate. Why? Because the sanctions were causing the Ayatollah to be concerned about regime change taking place within Iranian society due to the sanctions\u2019 consequences on the Iranian economy. Now, who benefits from the sanctions relief? The Ayatollah, according to a Reuters story with the title: \u201cKhamenei\u2019s business empire gains from Iran sanctions relief.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have worked on Iran\u2019s nuclear issues for 20 years, starting when I was a member of the House pressing for sanctions to prevent Iran from building the Bushehr nuclear power plant and to halt IAEA support for their uranium mining and enrichment programs.<\/p>\n
For a decade I was told that my concern had no basis \u2014 that Iran would never be able to bring the Bushehr plant on line, and that Iran\u2019s activities were not a concern.<\/p>\n
History has shown us that those assessments \u2014 about Iran\u2019s abilities and intentions \u2014 were simply wrong.<\/p>\n
The fact is Iran\u2019s nuclear aspirations did not materialize overnight.<\/p>\n
Iran has been slowly, methodically working up to this moment for decades \u2013 and now, if its capability is mothballed rather than dismantled \u2013 they will remain at the cusp of becoming a declared nuclear state should they chose to start again because nothing will have changed if nothing is dismantled.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake \u2014 Iran views developing a nuclear capability as fundamental to its existence.<\/p>\n
It sees the development of nuclear weapons as part of a regional hegemonic strategy to make Tehran the center of power throughout the region.<\/p>\n
This is why our allies and partners in the region \u2013 not just Israelis, but the Emiratis and the Saudis \u2014 are so skeptical and so concerned.<\/p>\n
Quite simply our allies and partners do not trust Iranian leaders, nor do they believe that Iran has any intention of verifiably ending its nuclear weapons program.<\/p>\n
So, while I welcome diplomatic efforts, and I share the hope that the Administration can achieve a final comprehensive agreement that eliminates this threat to global peace and security, I am deeply \u2013 deeply skeptical.<\/p>\n
The simple and deeply troubling fact is \u2014 Iran is literally weeks to months away from breakout, and the parameters of the final agreement \u2014 laid out in the Joint Plan of Action \u2014 do not appear to set Iran\u2019s development-capacity back by more than a few weeks.<\/p>\n
The Joint Plan of Action conceded, even before negotiations had even begun, Iran\u2019s right to some level of enrichment despite a U.N. resolution calling for Iran to suspend enrichment.<\/p>\n
It provides no guarantees that we\u2019ll resolve our concerns about Iranian weaponization activities, that Iran will cease advanced centrifuge research, that the IAEA will gain access to the Parchin military base, that Iran will dismantle thousands of centrifuges, or that the Iranians will disclose the scope of their activities.<\/p>\n
It suggests that the resolution for the Arak heavy-water reactors, which can provide a quicker plutonium pathway to nuclear weapons, may be to put it under IAEA safeguards, rather than requiring its dismantlement.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t have time for Iran to hedge and obfuscate.<\/p>\n
There should be no chance for Iran to buy more time, which, in effect, leaves us exactly where we are \u2013 just hitting a pause-button \u2014 with the state of play unchanged and Iran weeks from breakout.<\/p>\n
To me, that\u2019s a bad agreement and, in my view, we should be negotiating from a position of strength \u2013 in the case of Iran, holding fast on economic sanctions and a credible threat of force should Iran proceed with its nuclear efforts.<\/p>\n
Last Tuesday night, in the State of the Union, the President said: \u201cIf John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today.\u201d<\/p>\n
But I would point out to my colleagues that they did so from a position of strength. President Kennedy sent U.S. warships to face down the Soviets in Cuba, and Ronald Reagan dramatically built-up U.S. military might.<\/p>\n
We need to negotiate with Iran from a position of strength.<\/p>\n
The concerns I have raised here are legitimate. They are not \u2013 as the President\u2019s press secretary has said \u2013 \u201cwar-mongering.\u201d This is not saber rattling. It is not Congress wanting to \u201cmarch to war,\u201d as another White House spokeswoman said \u2014 but exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, trying to keep the pressure on Iran to completely satisfy the UN\u2019s \u2014 and the international community\u2019s \u2014 demands for Iran to halt and reverse its illicit nuclear activities is the best way to avoid war in the first place.<\/p>\n
Iran has proven in the past it won\u2019t negotiate in good faith except when it has no other choice \u2013 as the tough sanctions we passed have proven by getting Iran to the table.<\/p>\n
Iran says it won\u2019t negotiate with a gun to its head.<\/p>\n
Well, I would suggest it is Iran that has put a nuclear gun to the world\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
So, at the end of the day, name-calling is not an argument, nor is it sound policy.<\/p>\n
It is a false choice to say a vote for sanctions is equivalent to war-mongering.<\/p>\n
More pressure on Iran does not \u2014 in any way \u2014 suggest that Congress wants war, or that the Iranians feel backed into a corner and will \u2013 themselves \u2014 choose war over reason.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s stop talking about war-mongering.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s instead fixate on the final deal which, in my view, cannot and should not rely simply on trust, but on real, honest, verifiable dismantlement of Iran\u2019s capability to produce even one nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n
The ball is in the Administration\u2019s court, not in Congress\u2019.<\/p>\n
In fact, the agreement specifically states: \u201cThe U.S. Administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the President and the Congress, will refrain from imposing new nuclear-related sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agreement acknowledges that the Administration \u2013 not Congress \u2013 will refrain from imposing new sanctions.<\/p>\n
The Administration knew it could not bind Congress to refrain from imposing new sanctions \u2013 because Congress is a separate co-equal branch of government.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s focus on what was agreed to by those at the table rather than attributing blame to those who were not.<\/p>\n
We will not be the scapegoats for a bad deal if it does not take the nuclear weapons option off the table by insisting on dismantling existing capability, not simply mothballing it.<\/p>\n
Let me say, I want diplomacy to work. I want it to produce the results we all hope for and have worked for.<\/p>\n
But, at a minimum, we need to send a message to Iran that our patience is not unlimited and that we are skeptical of their intentions.<\/p>\n
And a message to the international community that the sanctions regime has not weakened, that this is not an opportunity to re-engage with Tehran.<\/p>\n
I would urge everyone to look at the legislation I\u2019ve drafted with my colleague from Illinois and members of both Caucuses as a win for the Administration.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve succeeded in convincing us to provide up-to-a-year window to negotiate.<\/p>\n
I believe that is significant and generous given Iran\u2019s history of treachery and deceit.<\/p>\n
If Iran\u2019s steps away from the negotiations or does not live up to its agreement it will be because they aren\u2019t serious about reaching a comprehensive deal.<\/p>\n
I have heard the concerns of the Administration. I know we share the same goals.<\/p>\n
And we have taken steps in the Foreign Relations Committee in pursuit of those goals.<\/p>\n
We worked with them to pass legislation to help reform the Organization of American States.<\/p>\n
We have moved 129 nominees.<\/p>\n
We worked through Labor Day \u2013 in a bipartisan effort \u2014 to quickly pass a resolution authorizing the use of military force in Syria which gave the President the ability to go to Russia and get a deal to end the use of chemical weapons in Syria.<\/p>\n
We passed \u2014 and the President signed PEPFAR into law \u2013 the President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.<\/p>\n
We worked with the Administration on Embassy Security after Benghazi.<\/p>\n
We worked with countless Administration officials and held two hearing on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.<\/p>\n
In all of these instances, I have worked closely with the Administration.<\/p>\n
And my intention now is to assist the Administration again in its negotiations by keeping the pressure on Iran which has always proven an unreliable negotiating partner at best.<\/p>\n
In my view, it\u2019s time to put Iranian rhetoric to the test. If we are to take President Rouhani at his word when he said in Davos last week that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons \u2014 if that\u2019s true, then the Iranian government should not have any problems with the obvious follow-up to that claim \u2013 starting with the verifiable dismantling of its illicit nuclear infrastructure. That is all the sanctions legislation does.<\/p>\n
We should settle for nothing less.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be clear, I do not come to this floor in opposition, I come in comity, and in the spirit of unity that has always dictated our foreign policy, but the Senate has an obligation to challenge assumptions in a free and open debate.<\/p>\n
That is what is most extraordinary about our government and it echoes in the many debates that have been held in this Chamber on war and peace, on justice, freedom, and civil rights.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, we have an obligation to speak our minds in what we believe is in the best interest of this nation.<\/p>\n
It is in that spirit that I come to the floor today.<\/p>\n
As General George Marshall said, \u201cGo right straight down the road, to do what is best, and to do it frankly and without evasion.\u201d Today, I am advocating for what I believe is in our national interest, and doing as frankly on comprehensively as I can.<\/p>\n
As John Kennedy said about having differences of opinion: \u201cLet us not be blind to [them], but let us also direct our attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Administration and the Senate have a common interest \u2013 to prevent a nuclear-weapons-capable-Iran. We have differences as to how to achieve it. We have an obligation to debate those differences and concerns. But I will not yield on a principled difference.<\/p>\n
It is our obligation to debate the issues \u2014 express our differences and concerns \u2014 and come to this floor to work together to resolve them.\u201d<\/p>\n
– See more at: http:\/\/blog.northjersey.com\/thepoliticalstate\/9464\/menendez-be-tougher-with-iran-but-wait-for-sanctions-vote\/#sthash.rHk0h9QM.dpuf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text of speech by Senator Menendez on U.S. Senate floor, February 6, 2014 “I come to the floor to speak about one of our greatest national security challenges – a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-15947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-iran-a-world","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n
Senator Menendez remarks on negociations with Iranian regime - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Text of speech by Senator Menendez on U.S. Senate floor, February 6, 2014 \u201cI come to the floor to speak about one of our greatest national security\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-a-world\/senator-menendez-remarks-on-negociations-with-iranian-regime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senator Menendez remarks on negociations with Iranian regime - NCRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Text of speech by Senator Menendez on U.S. Senate floor, February 6, 2014 \u201cI come to the floor to speak about one of our greatest national security\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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Text of speech by Senator Menendez on U.S. Senate floor, February 6, 2014<\/p>\n![\"Chairman](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FXWIm61eV6i4%2F0.jpg\")