“Nearly 90% of U.S. House of Representatives members have signed a letter urging the Trump administration to increase its diplomatic action at the United Nations to renew an arms embargo on Iran, congressional sources said on Thursday.” Reuters reported on Thursday, adding:
“In a rare show of bipartisanship, at least 382 of the 429 members of the Democratic-controlled House – Democrats and Republicans – have signed the letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to work with U.S. allies and partners to extend the embargo, as well as U.N. travel restrictions on Iranians involved with arms proliferation,”
“The U.N. arms embargo is set to expire in October, and we are concerned that the ban’s expiration will lead to more states buying and selling weapons to and from Iran,” said the letter, seen by Reuters and led by Representatives Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mike McCaul, the committee’s top Republican.
“We urge you to work with allies and like-minded partners, including through a new United Nations Security Council resolution, to extend these provisions in order to prevent Iran from buying and selling weapons, while also working to increase accountability for violations of the existing embargo,” the letter said.
Also, in a separate press release, Senator Ted Cruz (R. Tx) expressed his support for the United States administration’s move to renew the United Nations arms embargo on the Iranian regime.
Senator Cruz’s letter is as follows:
Sen. Cruz Applauds Trump Administration
for Reported Move to Reimpose United Nations Sanctions on Iran
April 27, 2020
HOUSTON, Texas – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement in response to media reports that the Trump administration is moving to invoke the snapback mechanism in United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231:
“I applaud the Trump administration for advancing toward finally and irreversibly ending the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal. I have long called for invoking the snapback mechanism, and it is absolutely clear that the United States is permitted to do so as an original participant state, as the State Department long ago concluded and confirmed to me in December. It is well past time to do so, otherwise in a few short months the U.N. arms embargo will expire and allow China to start selling billions of dollars of weapons to the Ayatollah. Iran has consistently been in violation of nuclear restrictions before, during, and after the negotiation of the deal, and the Ayatollah is right now systematically advancing toward a nuclear weapon. It is well past time to reimpose international sanctions.”
Sen. Cruz has led the fight against the deal since it was first negotiated. Since the U.S. withdrawal he has pushed for an end to oil waivers, an end to nuclear waivers, and for invoking the U.N. snapback mechanism to restore international sanctions on Iran. Specifically, Sen. Cruz:
- In January 2020, following reports that Iran had announced it would cease abiding by restrictions outlined in the deal, Sen. Cruz, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) called on the administration to invoke the snapback mechanism.
- In November 2019, after Iran announced it would begin injecting uranium gas into centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear bunker, which the Nuclear Archives seized by Israel identify as part of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Sen. Cruz called on the administration to invoke the snapback mechanism.
- In October 2019, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Cruz questioned State Department Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, regarding U.S. authority to reverse the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal, which will lift the arms embargo and ballistic missile ban that had been previously imposed by the United Nations.
- In September 2019, as world leaders attended the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Sen. Cruz called on President Trump and his administration to invoke the snapback mechanism in an op-ed published in the New York Post. Shortly after European allies confirmed that Iran attacked Saudi Arabian oil fields and top national security experts called for the U.S. to re-impose sanctions, Sen. Cruz once again called on the administration to invoke the snapback mechanism.
- In September 2019, as world leaders attended the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Sen. Cruz called on President Trump and his administration to invoke the snapback mechanism in an op-ed published in the New York Post.
- In July 2019, following reports that Iran had violated the deal, Sen. Cruz called on the administration to end the civil-nuclear waivers and invoke the snapback mechanism.
- In May 2019, following reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran exceeded centrifuge limits set by the deal, Sen. Cruz called on the administration to invoke the snapback mechanism.
- In December 2018, Sen. Cruz introduced the Blocking Iranian Illicit Finance Act - legislation designed to reinforce American sanctions and protect the global financial system from Iranian illicit finance.
- In July 2018, Sen. Cruz and nine of his colleagues sent a letter to ambassadors of the EU3 – Britain, France, and Germany – calling on their governments to deepen Transatlantic cooperation against Iran and warning against efforts to evade U.S. sanctions.
- In July 2016, Sen. Cruz and seven of his colleagues sent a letter to former Secretary of State John Kerry calling for the U.S. to restore sanctions on Iran.