UANI/JINSA Capitol Hill Briefing Calls for Greater Pressure to Deter Iran's Aggressive and Illicit Behavior

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 13, 2017
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UANI/JINSA Capitol Hill Briefing Calls for Greater Pressure to Deter Iran's Aggressive and Illicit Behavior

Washington, DC - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) gathered a distinguished group of experts on Capitol Hill on February 9, 2017 to discuss the future of Iran policy in light of Iran's continued aggression-including the recent testing of ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Keynote speakers at the standing room only event were U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO), a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Ambassador John Bolton, UANI Senior Advisor and the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. The event was moderated by Ambassador Kristen Silverberg, UANI's former president and the former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union.

Senator Gardner declared that the United States must "reject the failed policies of the past and begin putting pressure on Iran to cease its illicit behavior," including by designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization. Addressing the international business community, Gardner said, "Every global company should shun this regime as a matter of decent business practices."

Ambassador Bolton spoke about the fragility of the Iran nuclear deal, given the Trump Administration's reaction to Iran's aggressive actions: "I think 'on notice' means the JCPOA is one heartbeat away from disappearing...The Iran deal is a one day agreement that we are renewing day-by-day," Bolton said. He added that that the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization "should have happened about 10 years ago."

Following remarks by Senator Gardner and Ambassador Bolton, Ambassador Silverberg moderated a panel featuring former U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), who spearheaded efforts to impose crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime during his tenure in Congress, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Stephen Rademaker. Senator Kirk spoke of the need to declassify the nuclear deal and "publish it so the Congress and the American people can look at it and see the negotiating record and understand all of the terms as they were put forward by the parties." He also maintained that U.S. leverage against Russia and Iran involved ensuring U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) is meeting the EU's natural gas demand. And former Assistant Secretary Rademaker emphasized how the nuclear accord locks in a future where Iran can produce dozens of nuclear weapons with very little breakout time.

To watch the briefing in its entirety, click here.

For further information or to speak with UANI leadership, please contact: [email protected]. 

About UANI
UANI is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan, advocacy group founded in 2008 by Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former CIA Director Jim Woolsey, and Middle East Expert Ambassador Dennis Ross, that seeks to heighten awareness of the danger the Iranian regime poses to the world.

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