Ted Cruz’s Letter to Trump to Block Biden’s Return to JCPOA

Ted Cruz, a Republican U.S. senator, has asked Trump and Pompeo to prevent Biden’s return to the JCPOA. Cruz proposed to Trump and Pompeo that the Paris Climate Agreement and the JCPOA be referred to the Senate as a “treaty.”

Ted Cruz, an influential Republican senator and member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, published a letter on his website on Tuesday, December 22, addressed to Donald Trump, the U.S. President, and Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, regarding blocking Joe Biden’s return to the JCPOA.

In this letter to Trump and Pompeo, Cruz proposed that the Paris Climate Agreement and the nuclear agreement with Iran (JCPOA) be referred to the Senate as a treaty to block Joe Biden’s path to returning to the JCPOA.

This senator, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has described the Paris Climate Agreement and the JCPOA as “catastrophic” and recommended to Trump and Pompeo that they prevent Biden’s return to the JCPOA before Biden enters the White House.

In a tweet, Cruz referred to the JCPOA as the “Obama-Biden agreement.”

Cruz believes that if the Paris Climate Agreement and the JCPOA are sent to the Senate as treaties, Senate representatives will oppose them, and by rejecting these two agreements, Biden’s path to returning to them will be blocked.

In his letter, this Republican senator explained that the JCPOA and the Paris Climate Agreement are considered formal treaties and fall under the Second Article of the Constitution, according to which the United States would need a two-thirds majority vote of Senate representatives to join these treaties.

Ted Cruz believes that the JCPOA and the Paris Climate Agreement will not receive a two-thirds vote from Senate representatives, and U.S. participation in the JCPOA and the Paris Agreement would effectively be impossible, meaning the next U.S. administration cannot return to these agreements without a Senate vote.

Ted Cruz stated that the JCPOA and the Paris Climate Agreement, due to their impact on U.S. domestic and foreign policy, should be recognized as treaties, and referring them to the Senate should be done as soon as possible and before Biden takes office.

This Republican senator’s letter was published on his website on Tuesday, and so far, Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, and Joe Biden have not reacted to it.

Iranian Islamic Republic officials, who have pinned their hopes on Joe Biden’s return to the JCPOA, have also not yet commented on Ted Cruz’s proposal.

Source: DW