Republican Study Committee Leads Letter Calling for Complete and Permanent Suspension of Iran’s Nuclear Program

WASHINGTON D.C. –  Today, 177 House Republicans issued a strong statement of support for President Donald Trump's decisive approach to permanently dismantling Iran's nuclear program. The letter, led by the Republican Study Committee (RSC), reinforces Congressional backing for the administration's efforts to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat once and for all.

The RSC commended President Trump's return to a maximum pressure policy on Iran, highlighting the stark contrast with the previous administration's failed approach.  

"House Republicans stand firmly behind President Trump's clear-eyed approach to Iran," said RSC Chairman August Pfluger (TX-11). "The previous administration's misguided policies allowed Iran to reach the brink of nuclear breakout, but the Republican Study Committee's continued efforts on this issue demonstrate that Congress is unified in supporting the President's redline against any Iranian enrichment capability. Iran should understand that both the administration and Congress are aligned: there can be no deal that allows Iran to retain the capacity to enrich uranium and potentially threaten our national security or that of our allies."

“Iran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. The Republican Study Committee has long supported a maximum pressure campaign to confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions and hold the regime accountable. I’m proud to stand with President Trump in demanding a deal that fully dismantles Iran’s enrichment capabilities and puts American national security first," said RSC Vice-Chair Ben Cline (VA-06). 

The letter states: 
"Dear Mr. President,

We write to express our strong support for your efforts to secure a deal with Iran that dismantles its nuclear program, and to reinforce the explicit warnings that you and officials in your administration have issued that the regime must permanently give up any capacity for enrichment.

During your first term you withdrew the United States from the deeply broken Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and imposed maximum pressure on the regime. As you said then, a fatal flaw of the deal was that it “allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium and, over time, reach the brink of a nuclear breakout.” The JCPOA allowed Iran to sell oil, provided waivers allowing third countries to help Iran build out its nuclear program, and included the termination of United Nations sanctions on the regime. Despite critics claiming your withdrawal from the deal would allow Iran to advance its nuclear ambitions, the Iranian regime remained deterred from making substantial nuclear progress throughout your term because of your maximum pressure campaign.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration systematically undid that pressure, functionally re-implementing the nuclear deal. They immediately rescinded your decision to reimpose U.N. sanctions, allowed Iran to sell oil at JCPOA-levels, and even re-issued waivers allowing Iran to build out its nuclear program. As you predicted, those policies indeed allowed Iran to reach the brink of nuclear breakout, which is where they are today. The Biden administration made those concessions without any reciprocal concessions from Iran, and Iran even ceased providing
international inspectors access to significant parts of its nuclear program in the early days of the Biden administration.

The scope and breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout have made it impossible to verify any new deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium. In its most recent report, published on February 26, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that because of Iran’s activities over thelast four years, “the Agency has lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and current inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and UOC, which it will not be possible to restore.”

You and your administration have therefore correctly drawn a redline against any deal that allows Iran to retain any enrichment capability. Your National Security Presidential Memorandum on Iran stated that “Iran’s nuclear program, including its enrichment- and reprocessing-related capabilities and nuclear-capable missiles, poses an existential danger to the United States and the entire civilized world,” and Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff recently reemphasized that for any final arrangement to work, “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and
weaponization program.”

We cannot afford another agreement that enables Iran to play for time, as the JCPOA did. The Iranian regime should know that the administration has Congressional backing to ensure their ability to enrich uranium is, as you put it in your interview with Meet the Press, “totally dismantled.”

As always, we stand ready to provide you and your administration whatever resources you need to advance American national security interests."

BACKGROUND:
The Republican Study Committee is the oldest and largest conservative caucus in the House and represents the leading voice for conservative values in Congress. The RSC is home to 189 strong conservative members, fighting every single day for the American people.