A top Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. congress is seeking to ensure that the U.S. administration keeps its pledge to hold the Iranian regime responsible for continued terrorism.
Rep. Ted Deutch (D – Fla.), the ranking Democratic member of the Committee’s Mideast and North Africa Subcommittee along with Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III (D – Mass.), introduced the Zero Tolerance for Terror Act last month, which would allow Congress to impose new sanctions on the Iranian regime, if it should engage in terrorism, fund terrorist proxies, or acquire ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
Deutch was asked by the New York Observer on Thursday if he expected the administration to support his bill given its past claims of insisting that it would “hold Iran’s feet to the fire” to ensure compliance with the deal and confront its non-nuclear violations. “I don’t know what the White House’s position will be,” Deutch responded.
“They shouldn’t object to it. They’ve said that the Iran deal was never meant to address Iranian terrorism. [This bill] should be consistent with their position.”
Deutch believes the nuclear deal with the regime in Tehran “may temporarily slow Iran’s nuclear enrichment, but it speeds up the enrichment of the Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian terror proxies that endanger security and stability in the Middle East.”
