Two Bills Against Iran and China Introduced by U.S. Congressional Representatives
A group of Republican lawmakers on Tuesday introduced two bills titled “Holding China Accountable to Congress” that target relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and communist China, as well as Tehran’s support for terrorism.
Seven Republican senators introducing the bill to the Senate are seeking to halt the Biden administration’s efforts to revive the JCPOA and limit China’s attempts to dominate the world.
The bill, drafted at the initiative of Senator Marsha Blackburn, has the support of six other prominent Republican senators and requires any agreement with Iran to be approved by the Senate with a two-thirds majority vote.
The bill also prohibits any transfer of funds or provision of financing pursuant to an agreement with Iran until Tehran terminates all contracts involving transfer of funds from China and security and military cooperation with Beijing.
The bill includes the complete cessation of Iran’s support for terrorism and financial assistance to terrorist organizations, and explicitly emphasizes the destruction and dismantling of all chemical weapons infrastructure and verification measures regarding them.
The bill also requires the Secretary of State to submit a report to Congress regarding any agreement with Iran.
The submission of this bill to the Senate comes as Republican Representative Bob Good has proposed a similar bill to the House.
Currently, many U.S. senators are opposed to the idea of reviving the JCPOA and returning to the agreement. Senator James Risch, one of the pioneers of this view, said last week in an interview with Voice of America that no deal is better than returning to the JCPOA. Emphasizing increased sanctions, this senator called for imposing secondary sanctions against those who deal with Iran.
This comes as Senator Risch on Tuesday called Iran’s seizure of Greek vessels in a tweet a terrorist act and urged the government to prioritize addressing such conduct.
Although this view has supporters for withdrawing from negotiations, some Democratic senators also support returning to the JCPOA. Senator Chris Murphy is one of the supporters of returning to the JCPOA, but believes that if an agreement is fundamentally different from the JCPOA, Congress should vote on it and the administration should know that any agreement it concludes must obtain Congressional approval.
Source: Voice of America
