Led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, they are Reps. Elaine Luria of Virgina, Donald Norcross of New Jersey, Juan Vargas of California, Vincent Gonzales of Texas, Dean Phillips of Minnesota, Haley Stevens of Michigan, Tom Suozzi of New York, Brendon Boyle of Pennsylvania, Darren Soto of Florida, Jim Costa of California, Susan Lee of Nevada, Jared Golden of Maine, Grace Meng of New York, Lois Frankel of Florida and Kathy Manning of North Carolina.
Five were in attendance at a press conference Wednesday, alerting the media to their concerns about the deal. These included Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Elaine Luria, Donald Norcross, Dean Phillips and Juan Vargas.
"If Iran has proven anything, it is that they can't be trusted," Gottheimer remarked. "They have failed on their commitments every step of the way."
This deal will only cement the power of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism—a regime with hegemonic aspirations that has destabilized the region and murdered thousands of dissidents and members of the LGBT community.
Not only does this deal offer Iran far more than its negotiators could have ever imagined, according to Mikhail Ulyanov, but the method for enforcing it is even more unsavory.
"It has been reported under this proposed deal that Russia will be the de facto judge of compliance … this will occur without any oversight mechanisms," Gottheimer said. "Are we seriously going to let a war criminal, Vladimir Putin, be the guarantor of this deal?"
As one of many concessions, the US will remove the IRGC from the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. When speaking about the IRGC FTO designation, Gottheimer said the State Department itself proclaims that the FTO is a powerful tool to combat terrorism.
By lifting sanctions against the IRGC, this deal will pose an immediate threat to the very existence of Israel and our Gulf allies, as well as a long-term threat to the national security interests of the United States.
The IRGC is responsible, among other things, for the1983 murder of 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut and for the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, resulting in the death of 85 civilians and the wounding of hundreds of more.
Luria cogently stated, "The old JCPOA did not work and any new deal that does not wholly prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is unacceptable."
Norcross strongly declared, "To separate the idea of nuclear weapons from all the terrorist activities that are going on is the definition of insanity" and "When [Iran's] lips are moving, they are lying. They have given us nothing to indicate that has changed."
Vargas mentioned two major flaws of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 Iran deal: First, the US allowed Iran to keep all equipment necessary for a nuclear weapon. Second, after 15 years, Iran was going to be able to enrich as much Uranium as it wanted with any type of centrifuges without restrictions.
In terms of the timeline, Vargas said, "That was an absolutely fatal flaw."
Said EMET Founder and President Sarah Stern, "EMET applauds the courage of 15 Democrats who stood up to their own administration about a deal that would be disastrous to the national security interests of the United States and an existential threat to Israel and our Gulf allies."
She adds, "It is deeply troubling that we are actually considering delisting from our State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which sponsors most of the world's terrorist organizations. The IRGC has plotted to assassinate on our own soil former high ranking officials including Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Former Assistant Secretary of State Brian Hook.
Ms. Stern continues, "While we are trying to isolate the evil that is Russia under Putin, we are trying simultaneously to enrich, embolden and enable the evil that is the Islamic Republic of Iran and even to enable Russia to trade in oil and nuclear development with Iran. All just to wave a piece of paper in the air, Neville Chamberlain-like, proclaiming, 'We have a deal.'"
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