![\"engel-royce\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2013\/08\/engel-royce.jpg\" "\\"engel-royce\\"")
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House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) issued the following statement as negotiators attempt to reach a final agreement on Iran\u2019s nuclear program by November 24th. This week\u2019s talks in Vienna will attempt to finalize the agreement that was outlined by the interim \u201cjoint plan of action\u201d signed a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear program move toward a possible conclusion, we continue to urge U.S. negotiators to take into account testimony given at a dozen hearings before the House Foreign Affairs Committee this Congress. Among the challenges negotiators face: contending with the thousands of centrifuges (the key bomb-making technology) that Iran is seeking to maintain intact; establishing an effective verification regime; and understanding and addressing the \u2018possible military dimensions\u2019 of Iran\u2019s nuclear program. We are greatly concerned by reports that Iran is seeking to keep \u2013 and not dismantle \u2013 much of its nuclear infrastructure. Conceding enrichment to Iran is a fundamental and risky departure from decades of U.S. non-proliferation policy. Concerning also is Iran\u2019s continued stonewalling of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the key verification agency, about its past bomb work. How can we have any confidence that Iran will be transparent in the future if it won\u2019t be transparent about its past?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that any final agreement between the P5+1 and Iran must foreclose any pathway for Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capability. It must include an effective, intrusive, and long-term verification mechanism that would give us ample warning of any attempt by Iran to break out. It must also require Iran to come clean on its past work to develop a bomb.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also the concerning fact that any limits placed on Iran\u2019s nuclear program as part of the \u2018comprehensive solution\u2019 now being negotiated will expire. In this respect, the \u2018final\u2019 agreement is just another interim step, with the real final step being one in which Iran is treated as \u2018any other\u2019 non-nuclear weapon state under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, opening it to pursue industrial scale enrichment. Of course, Iran \u2013 with a deep history of deception, covert procurement, and construction of clandestine facilities – is not \u2018any other\u2019 country, to be conceded a sophisticated nuclear program. This end state is all the more disconcerting, as the regime in Tehran continues to sow destruction in the region and brutalize Iranians seeking democracy and human rights. Any meaningful agreement must last far into the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cOversight of these issues has been a top Committee priority. Few other issues are of such grave importance to our nation\u2019s security. We will continue working to evaluate the outcome of these negotiations to determine if they are in the long-term national security interests of the United States and our allies — and act accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Note: Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel are co-authors of H.R. 850, the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, which passed the House 400-20 in July 31, 2013.<\/p>\n
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Source:\u00a0http:\/\/foreignaffairs.house.gov\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) issued the following statement as negotiators attempt to reach a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-17558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nuclear","tag-updated"],"yoast_head":"\n