Any final agreement with the Iranian regime must cut off Tehran’s path to a nuclear weapon, U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann says.
In an article published in the News Sentinel, Fleischmann wrote: “Iran has ignored its international obligations for decades. Since the current regime came into power 36 years ago, it has repeatedly lied to the international community while working on an illicit nuclear weapons program and sponsoring terrorism throughout the world.”
“If President Barack Obama submits an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program to Congress, I will insist that it verifiably cuts off Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon.
“First and foremost, any truly effective agreement with the Iranian regime must include a comprehensive verification mechanism that gives international inspectors access to Iran’s nuclear sites at any time without prior approval. If the Iranian regime receives advance notice of inspections, it would be too easy for the regime to move illicit materials to other locations before inspectors arrive.”
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican representing Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, adds: “If Iran is serious about its desire to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, it has no need to hide its nuclear infrastructure in fortified secret bunker complexes. It is therefore critical that Iran dismantle its nuclear infrastructure at hardened facilities like Arak. If Iran’s centrifuges and other elements of its infrastructure are left in place at such locations, it will be too easy for Iran to violate the agreement and covertly develop a nuclear weapon before inspectors are aware. Iran’s uranium stockpile should also be shipped out of the country in order to truly cut off its path to a nuclear weapons.”
Fleischmann, who describes a nuclear deal with the Iranian regime as “the most consequential national security issue” that he will have to vote on in his time in Congress, adds “unless the elements I have laid out are all adequately addressed in a final agreement, I will not support it.”