Republican lawmakers on Wednesday slammed the Biden administration for its cooperation with Russia on Iran nuclear talks in Vienna in light of the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
They urged US President Joe Biden to walk away from negotiations with Iran over a nuclear deal, emphasizing that it would help Russian President Vladimir Putin by providing “a massive subsidy” to Russia as his military invades Ukraine.
“This Iran deal, if and when it is announced, will be a massive win for Vladimir Putin,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “Putin will make billions in oil and gas transactions, in nuclear transactions, and weapons transactions.”
Cruz added that the Biden administration is “incoherently” announcing sanctions on Russia while also “creating a massive subsidy” for Russia which “makes no sense.”
Russia, which was sanctioned after it invaded Ukraine, demanded US guarantees that these measures would not affect its interests in the Iran nuclear deal.
“This is not right, we should walk,” Republican Sen. Jim Risch emphatically stated during the press conference. “This doesn’t need to be done right now and particularly it doesn’t need to be done when we have the problems going on that we have in Ukraine. We should walk.”
“Mr. President, you’re the only one in America doing business with the Russians, stop doing business with the Russians,” Risch added while slamming his hand on the podium. “Don’t have them negotiating for us, walk on this deal.”
Republican Senator Joni Ernst said during the press conference that she doesn’t understand Biden’s foreign policy and referred to working with Russia on an Iran nuclear deal as “insane.”
“Russia, this is the country with tanks running over Ukraine right now killing innocent civilians,” Ernst said. “Children, women, people that we care about, and yet they’re using those Russians to negotiate a deal with yet another one of our near-peer adversaries, Iran.”
