Hoyer Statement on Today's UN Decisions Regarding Iran

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on the International Atomic Energy Agency closing their investigation into military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program and the UN Sanctions Committee's decision not to take action after Iran's ballistic missile launch:

“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) only makes sense if the international community, led by the United States, backs words with actions and enforces both the JCPOA and related U.N. Security Council resolutions.  Developments today underscore my concern about the enforcement of both.  It is disturbing that the U.N. decided to close the book on its investigation of Iran’s past pursuit of nuclear weapons.  If the international community does not seek the full scope of answers for this JCPOA requirement, what does that portend for future enforcement of the JCPOA and restrictions on Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism?  This vote occurred just hours before the U.N. Sanctions Committee chose to take no action against Iran for its ballistic missile launch, a blatant violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929.  While I applaud Ambassador Power for raising the violation, the silence of the Security Council highlights the dangers of not keeping up the pressure on Iran.

“The JCPOA applies to Iran’s nuclear program on its face and at the Administration’s insistence.  Iran’s malevolent regional activities – its support for terror, its aid to Syria’s murderous dictator Bashar al-Assad, and its threats to Israel – remain fair game for the international community to confront with all the tools in its arsenal.  Ambassador Power said it best today: ‘[W]e reject the notion that those countries that raise these violations in the Security Council – countries like the United States – are somehow responsible for destabilizing the JCPOA.  Implementing Council resolutions is the sine qua non of a credible, enforceable nuclear deal, and to suggest otherwise is to miss the point of the JCPOA – and the point of the U.N. Security Council.  A sense of impunity for violators will not help this deal. ...Iran is the party breaking the rules, not the United States, by violating U.N. Security Council resolutions.'

“In that spirit, protests by Iran's leaders that reforms to the State Department's Visa Waiver Program, which passed the House last week, infringe upon the JCPOA, are outrageous.  This absurd allegation, coupled with the missile violation and the international silence in response, underscores that the United States – with Congress’s leadership – needs to challenge Iran.  I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle not only to strengthen sanctions already in place but to determine whether new sanctions are appropriate, in light of Iran's recent violations."