Event Wrap-Up: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Eliot Engel Headline Congressional Event on Iran Policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2016

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Event Wrap-Up: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Eliot Engel Headline Congressional Event on Iran Policy

Washington, DC - On Wednesday, December 7, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) co-hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on the future of Iran policy.  Keynoting the event were U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs (HFAC), and Eliot Engel (D-NY), ranking member of HFAC.

Lieberman in DC
UANI Chairman Senator Joseph Lieberman speaking at UANI’s Capitol Hill briefing on December 7, 2016.

For a complete video of the event, see here.

In her opening remarks, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen stated: "it's clear we're about to enter a new phase of Iranian sanctions,"  and that Congress' strategy moving forward would be "enforcing current sanctions, expanding the other non-nuclear related sanctions, and perhaps even rolling back or tightening provisions of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]."  Rep. Engel emphasized the bipartisan support for holding Iran accountable for its continued meddling in the wider Middle East, but cautioned against an immediate abrogation of the JCPOA, recommending instead that the U.S. utilize "our ability under the deal [through] non-nuclear sanctions ... to begin to address Iran's malign activities."

UANI Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman also headed a panel with Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and J. Matthew McInnis from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).  Senator Lieberman emphasized the need to consult and include Israel and allied Arab states in discussions related to Iran as they have the greatest stake in any regional implications emanating from negotiations with Tehran.  Senator Lieberman also called for strict policing of the existing nuclear deal; designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization; and sanctioning sectors of the Iranian economy tied to its ballistic missile program, among other measures.  On the incoming Trump administration, Senator Lieberman stated, "[w]hen it comes to our relations with Iran and the goal of stopping Iran from ever becoming a nuclear power, the coming of the Trump administration represents a sea change, and from my point of view, a sea change in the right direction."

Dubowitz emphasized that Trump's election would cause "fear, uncertainty, and doubt" in Tehran and among the P5+1-and that would increase the risks for businesses seeking to reenter the Iranian economy.  He also pointed to the need to increase the number of specially designated nationals in Iran which are tied to the IRGC.  "There are only 25 IRGC companies that have ever been designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in the Treasury, despite the fact that my organization has identified 575 IRGC companies that are eligible for designation," said FDD's Dubowitz.  "Treasury should be right off the bat in February, once everybody's in their seats, massively accelerating the number of IRGC designations, from 25 to 250 to 2500."

AEI's Matthew McInnis highlighted that the Iranian regime is already testing the incoming Trump administration and Congress, and that the United States has already lost leverage due to the nuclear negotiations that will be difficult to regain.  He also thought that Tehran would be waiting for President-elect Trump to make the first move.

The event and UANI commentary on the future direction of Iran policy were covered extensively in The Weekly StandardAl-MonitorUSA Today, and Arab News.

On Tuesday, December 6, UANI Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace coauthored an op-ed in the Washington Post calling for strict enforcement and renegotiation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  Earlier this month, UANI Policy Director Jason Brodsky authored an essay in Investor's Business Daily, analyzing the political landscape in Tehran and Washington in the wake of Donald J. Trump's election.

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