Critics call out Biden administration for not walking away from Iran nuclear deal despite recent rhetoric
The Biden administration said the nuclear deal is ‘not on the agenda,’ but critics like Sen. Ted Cruz and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley are not buying it
By Benjamin Weinthal | Fox News
The Biden’s administration’s Iran policy, beset by criticism that it is too dovish on Tehran’s bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters and the clerical’s regime ambition to build a nuclear weapons device, is facing new blowback from U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, former American ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, and European politicians.
Critics say the Biden administration’s statements over this month show its fealty to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal, that, according to one U.S. think tank study, would funnel $275 billion in benefits to Tehran in its first year and $1 trillion by 2030.
A spokesman for Senator Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that “Sen. Cruz believes that the Biden administration is ideologically obsessed with reentering a nuclear deal with Iran, and that they are doing everything possible to keep that possibility open. He believes that they prioritize the deal above other critical interests they claim they have, including supporting the women-led protests against the Iranian regime and helping our Ukrainian allies take out the Russian and Iranian forces using drones to devastate Ukrainian military and civilian targets.”
The spokesman added that the senator “fully expects the administration to deepen their obsession, including continuing to enable nuclear cooperation between Iran and Russia despite Congressional sanctions if they think it’s politically possible.”
Iranians protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Middle East Images, File)
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The London-based Iran International news organization reported that Biden’s Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley recently conducted meetings with Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., Saeed Iravani, “at least three times in the last two months.”
When asked about the meetings State Department spokesperson Ned Price told Fox News Digital that “We have made clear that we have the means to deliver specific and firm messages to Iran when it is in America’s interest to do so. We have consistently conveyed three messages to Iran: stop killing peaceful protesters, stop selling weapons to Russia to kill Ukrainians, and release the Americans you have wrongfully detained. We also use every available opportunity to make clear that we will take necessary steps to protect American citizens.”
Price added, “I am not going to get into details about how we deliver these messages, but we do so in close coordination with allies and partners and make no apologies for delivering them firmly and consistently.”
Haley told Fox News Digital, “The IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] is a terrorist organization, plain and simple. Europe should have blacklisted them years ago. Every day the farce of reviving the Iran deal continues is another day the world is less safe.”
The Trump administration classified the IRGC a terrorist entity in 2019.
In response to criticism by Cruz and Haley, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The JCPOA has not been on the agenda for months. It is not our focus. Since September, our focus has been on standing up for the fundamental freedoms of the Iranian people and countering Iran’s deepening military partnership with Russia and its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
The spokesperson added, “President Biden is absolutely committed to never allowing Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. We believe diplomacy is the best way to achieve that goal on a sustainable and verifiable basis, and that the alternatives are worse.”
IRAN GOVERNMENT’S PROTEST CRACKDOWN KILLS DOZENS OF CHILDREN, PROMPTS CALLS FOR REMOVAL FROM UNITED NATIONS
Members of the Iranian revolutionary guard march during a parade to commemorate the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war. (Reuters)
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council echoed the State Department.
“The JCPOA is not our focus right now. It’s not on the agenda. Iran is killing its young people and selling UAVs to Russia to kill Ukrainians. Our focus is on practical ways to confront them in these areas. Regardless of the nuclear talks, we will continue to confront Iran’s behavior in the region, protect our troops, including with military forces when necessary, and support the brave Iranian people demanding their basic rights and dignity – which this regime has long denied them. We will continue taking action to impose costs on those who commit violence against peaceful protesters or otherwise seek to suppress their rights,” said the N.S.C. spokesperson.
The European Union (EU) on Monday declined to sanction the massive 125,000-strong military without a court decision from an EU nation that declares the IRGC is engaged in terrorist activities.
“It is something that cannot be decided without a court… decision first. You cannot say I consider you a terrorist because I don’t like you,” Josep Borrell, the top EU diplomat, said.
EU diplomats told Reuters last week the bloc was set to add 37 names to a blacklist of Iranian people and entities banned from traveling to Europe and subject to an asset freeze.
The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution last week, urging that IRGC be included on the bloc’s terror list. The commander of the IRGC and Iran’s parliamentary speaker threatened the EU with consequences should it proscribe the IRGC a terrorist organization.
File photo shows the flags of the member states of the European Union blow in the wind at dusk in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution last week urging the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be added to the bloc’s terrorism list. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
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