UANI Statement On Developing U.S. Posture Toward Iran

(New York, N.Y.) – United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the following joint statement today following the conclusion of discussions in Vienna between the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K., Russia, China, and the European Union about the Biden Administration’s policy vis-à-vis Iran.

“As outlined in our open letter to the Biden Administration, published in The New York Times on February 5, 2021, UANI respectfully urges President Biden to avoid the mistakes of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by making concessions or commitments to Iran absent bipartisan buy-in from Congress and multilateral support from U.S. allies and partners in Europe and the Middle East. U.S. policy must reflect the regional realities of 2021, not 2015 when the JCPOA was agreed to.

“Sanctions relief should not be provided for mere negotiations.It is undeniable that the Islamic Republic of Iran has failed to make sufficient, verifiable, and permanent changes to its behavior. To lift sanctions in response to escalating provocative behavior runs counter to U.S. national security interests and would set an extremely negative precedent, inspiring a continuation of the malign behaviors which prompted the application of sanctions in the first place.

“The U.S. should insist that the regime earn any relief from the sanctions applied by Democratic and Republican-led administrations by dismantling its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and ballistic missiles and related launch technology; cutting off all support for U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); implementing best practices to protect international banking systems from money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing; compensating former U.S. hostages and victims of terror; releasing all presently held U.S. hostages and the remains of Americans killed in Iranian captivity; and ending its systemic human rights abuses, censorship, and corruption.

“Separately, the U.S. should insist on Tuesday that all nations fully comply with existing sanctions, particularly those that prohibit the purchase and import of Iranian oil and petrochemical products, and to end cooperation with and support for sanctions-busting schemes which undermine global trade and maritime safety.” 

To read UANI’s Open Letter to the Biden Administration: A Path Forward for the P5+1 and Iran, please click here. 

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