With a new Iran nuclear deal potentially just days away, bipartisan concerns remain in Congress about the reported concessions being offered to Iran, and the Biden administration’s highly concerning lack of transparency about negotiations. President Biden should submit any agreement to Congress, as required by US law, and also refuse to lift terrorism sanctions on Iran unrelated to its nuclear program. Congress should urgently convene long overdue public hearings on the administration’s policy toward Iran’s nuclear program and malign behaviors more generally. Last Tuesday, US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley and Middle East Coordinator at the National Security Council Brett McGurk gave closed-door briefings to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) on the status of the Biden administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran in Vienna. After the briefing, SFRC member Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) expressed concerns that the White House, in order to surmount the largest remaining hurdle to a new nuclear deal, was considering lifting the foreign terrorism organization (FTO) designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “That designation should remain,” said Cardin. Ranking Member Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) echoed Cardin’s concerns about delisting the IRGC, and warned that “both Republicans and Democrats that I’ve talked to” are highly concerned about the “disgusting” lack of transparency from the Biden administration regarding the course of the Vienna talks. Why is it important? In his January 2021 SFRC confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken committed to proactively consult with Congress as the administration negotiates with Iran to reenter or renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). With the Vienna talks potentially days away from culminating in a deal, Tuesday’s briefings underscore growing apprehensions among members of both parties on Capitol Hill that they are in the dark about the dangerous concessions reportedly being offered by the administration to Iran under a new nuclear agreement—including lifting the IRGC’s FTO designation. On Feb. 1, SFRC Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) gave a speech on the Senate floor laying out concerns about the course of the Vienna talks, and the lack of engagement from the White House, as news accumulates in terms of what the Biden administration reportedly is willing to give Tehran as part of a new deal. Initial SFRC closed-door briefings from Malley and McGurk on Feb. 8-9 seemed to provide Menendez no further clarity, as he asked afterward, “What is the deal? Is it exactly the way it was [with the JCPOA in 2015]? Is it different? If so, how? What are we giving?” After Menendez’s speech and the Feb. 8-9 briefings, members from both parties have voiced concerns about the opacity of what is being agreed in Vienna. On Feb. 9, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) said administration officials “continue to dodge the important questions and give answers publicly … Special Envoy Malley works for the American people, and he should answer them as well.” On March 10, 12 House Democrats signed a bipartisan letter from Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Elaine Luria (D-Va.) and Tom Reed (R-NY) laying out 16 questions for the administration about the contents and consequences of a new deal, including specifically asking: “Does the Administration intend to remove the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation of the IRGC? Will sanctions on the IRGC in any other way be diminished?” After a March 12 conference call with McGurk, several House Democrats expressed frustrations over […]

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