Washington, D.C. Jan 18, 2018 — Today, U.S. Representatives Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) led a group of 20 republicans in introducing H.R. 4821, the Iran Freedom Policy and Sanctions Act to increase pressure on Iran for its human rights abuses, support for terrorism and ballistic missile program, and to strengthen the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by placing stringent restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program, fixing the deficiencies of the nuclear accord to permanently prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability.
As first reported by Axios, this legislation seeks to fix the major flaws of the JCPOA, including the nuclear deal’s sunset provisions, the faulty inspections regime and provisions that allow advanced nuclear technology and ballistic missile research and development. If Iran fails to abide by the rigid restrictions pursuant to this bill, all sanctions waived pursuant to the JCPOA would be re-imposed.
“Congress has four months to fix the flaws of the JCPOA to permanently block Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability,” said Representative Roskam. “We’ve introduced the Iran Freedom Policy and Sanctions Act to achieve this goal and to hold Iran accountable for its rampant abuse of protestors, continuous support for terrorism and ongoing ballistic missile program advancements. In addition to ramping up crippling sanctions on Iran, this legislation strengthens the Iran nuclear deal by requiring Iran to adhere to stringent restrictions on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs or face the full brunt of U.S. sanctions snapback. We must ensure the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism cannot go nuclear.”
“The Obama Iran nuclear agreement is perhaps the most damaging agreement our country has ever entered into and President Trump was right to decertify the deal,” said Representative Cheney. “The Obama Iran deal is fundamentally flawed and fails to prevent the Iranians from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Today, I am proud to join Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) in introducing the Iran Freedom Policy and Sanctions Act, which establishes the minimum requirements that must be in any verifiable agreement in order to obtain future sanctions relief. Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, must not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, and we must no longer gamble our Nation’s security on a dangerous agreement that provides only a false sense of security,” Cheney continued.
The bill was introduced by Reps. Peter Roskam, Liz Cheney, Kay Granger, Mike Gallagher, Jackie Walorski, Elise Stefanik, Rodney Davis, Doug LaMalfa, Mike Bishop, Karen Handel, Kevin Cramer, Peter King, Doug Lamborn, Ted Poe, Todd Rokita, Ron DeSantis, Drew Ferguson, Randy Weber, Leonard Lance, Darin LaHood, Robert Pittenger and Keith Rothfus.
