The Congress is stepping up pressure on the US administration to stop the nuclear negotiations with Tehran. The increase in opposition came after prominent Democratic Senator Bob Menendez warned that Iran was close to acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Republicans intensified their opposition to returning to the agreement, and about 30 Senate Republicans wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden warning him that any agreement is void if Congress is not consulted about it and if the Senate has not voted on it.
The letter, signed by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and 32 colleagues, demands Biden complies with legislation giving Congress oversight on nuclear pacts with Tehran, complicating talks to reenter the deal.
Dated February 7, the letter emphasizes to Biden that the bipartisan Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act requires the administration to submit within five days any new nuclear agreement to Congressional oversight.
“We are committed to using the full range of options and leverage available to United States Senators to ensure that you meet those obligations, and that the implementation of any agreement will be severely if not terminally hampered if you do not,” read the letter, co-signed by 32 of Cruz’s Republican Senate colleagues.
“The submission of such materials then triggers a statutorily-defined review process and includes the possibility of Congress blocking implementation of the agreement.” the senators wrote.
The letter also warned that any agreement that is not a Senate-ratified treaty could be reversed by a new president in January 2025.
A treaty, which is far more difficult to pass or rescind than an executive order, is required by the US Constitution to be approved by two-thirds of the Senate, an unlikely scenario in a chamber with 50 GOP senators.
The signatories of the letter criticized the administration’s efforts to return to the nuclear agreement, recalling that Tehran is enriching uranium by 60 % and has expanded its stockpile of enriched uranium to more than 3,200 kilograms.
