{"id":187298,"date":"2021-03-02T17:44:45","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T22:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=187298"},"modified":"2021-03-02T17:44:48","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T22:44:48","slug":"inside-the-gop-plan-to-oppose-bidens-iran-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inside-the-gop-plan-to-oppose-bidens-iran-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the GOP Plan to Oppose Biden\u2019s Iran Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finside-the-gop-plan-to-oppose-bidens-iran-deal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=187298&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1301611540_736x514.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Congressional Republicans are working on a range of measures to stop the Biden administration from reentering the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, an effort that includes a full-court press to block sanctions relief for Tehran until it fully dismantles its contested nuclear program, according to conversations with multiple GOP foreign policy leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Republicans face an uphill battle given Democratic control of Congress and the Biden administration&#8217;s ability to steer U.S. foreign policy during the next four years. But the opposition to full-scale sanctions relief on<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/floor-action\/house\/253370-house-rejects-iran-deal\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">both sides<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">of the aisle could force the administration to recalibrate its approach to diplomacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posts-content__category-widget md:hidden -ml-4 -mr-4 my-8 px-4 py-6 bg-gray-100\">\n<h4 class=\"mt-0 text-red-600 font-medium font-sans uppercase\">Recent Stories in Biden Administration<\/h4>\n<ul class=\"list-none p-0\">\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/inside-the-gop-plan-to-oppose-bidens-iran-deal\/\"><strong>Inside the GOP Plan to Oppose Biden\u2019s Iran Deal<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/elizabeth-warren-abandons-mckinsey-disclosure-demands\/\"><strong>Elizabeth Warren Abandons McKinsey Disclosure Demands<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li class><a class=\"text-black block mb-3 pb-3 border-b border-white\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/white-house-no-plans-to-share-covid-vaccines-with-mexico\/\"><strong>White House: No Plans to Share COVID Vaccines with Mexico<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As part of this effort, the Republican Study Committee\u2014Congress\u2019s largest caucus of GOP lawmakers\u2014unveiled on Tuesday the most detailed plan yet to counter the Biden administration\u2019s overtures toward Tehran and block it from unraveling former president Donald Trump\u2019s &#8220;maximum pressure&#8221; campaign on the country, which included crippling sanctions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The caucus vowed to &#8220;fight against and work to reverse any and all sanctions relief for Iran&#8221; until the country halts its nuclear program, releases all U.S. hostages, halts its missile program, and ends its global support for terrorism, according to a copy of the GOP plan that was unanimously approved on Tuesday morning and obtained by the\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Washington Free Beacon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Sources close to the RSC said it is among the most comprehensive policy positions that caucus has ever taken in its 47-year history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The new strategy document is just one piece of a larger effort by GOP foreign policy leaders in Congress to stymie the Biden administration as it moves toward direct talks with Iran. While Republicans are in the minority and will have a tough time passing any Iran-related legislation, they are united across the board in their opposition to rejoining the nuclear deal\u2014a message that they intend to deliver to the Biden administration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond legislation, Republicans plan to hold open hearings on the administration&#8217;s diplomacy and will pressure U.S.-Iran envoy Robert Malley and other State Department officials to keep them apprised of any new deals with Tehran. For instance, after Malley quietly held talks with China last month about rejoining the deal, GOP lawmakers quickly pressed the State Department to provide them with a full readout of Malley&#8217;s conversation. This type of oversight is likely to become a hallmark of the GOP&#8217;s response to diplomacy with Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lawmakers from across the GOP foreign policy establishment told the\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free Beacon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0they are engaged in this constant-messaging campaign and will spend the next several years working to expose any concessions the Biden administration makes to Iran. They also will push multiple pieces of legislation aimed at preserving sanctions and making it clear to the Biden administration that if it conducts diplomacy without Republican support, any new deal will have little chance of long-term survival. It is an effort that could attract support from mainstream Democrats, particularly leaders like Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), a prominent champion of Iran sanctions who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), the RSC\u2019s chairman and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free Beacon<\/span><\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that the Biden administration is aware it cannot capitulate to Iranian demands for sanctions relief as a prerequisite for diplomatic talks. While the State Department has signaled it is open to a certain level of sanctions relief, the administration will face massive blowback from U.S. allies, primarily Israel, if it is seen as caving to Tehran\u2019s unrealistic demands.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;We will be fighting any attempt by the Biden administration to return to the failed Obama strategy on Iran or accept any \u2018Iran Deal lite\u2019 or \u2018Iran Deal 2.0,\u2019&#8221; Banks said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Republicans also say they will<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;reimpose all sanctions on Iran that Biden is lifting&#8221; once the administration is out of office\u2014another effort that will limit the administration\u2019s leverage as it negotiates with Tehran,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">according to<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Steube said he also plans to investigate a budding effort by the Biden administration to have South Korea unfreeze Iranian assets, money that will likely fund the regime\u2019s military efforts in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free Beacon<\/span><\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that Democrats and Republicans on the committee all share concerns the Biden administration\u2019s diplomatic efforts could end up bolstering Iran\u2019s hardline regime at a time when it is under intense economic and political pressure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon isn\u2019t a Republican priority or Democrat priority\u2014it\u2019s an American priority,&#8221; McCaul said. &#8220;But we have to start from a position of strength, and we must ensure the steps we take keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in the long term. Short-term solutions are no solutions at all.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to fighting sanctions relief, the RSC policy document backs former secretary of state Mike Pompeo\u2019s 12-point plan for diplomacy with Iran, which required Iran shutter its nuclear sites before negotiations could commence. It also required Iran consent to nuclear inspections at any time and at any site of the International Atomic Energy Agency\u2019s choosing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That plan &#8220;should be the gold standard for Republicans in Congress,&#8221; said Rep. Joe Wilson (R., S.C.), a Foreign Affairs Committee member and head of the RSC\u2019s national security taskforce. That means &#8220;no sanctions relief for Iran whatsoever unless Iran meets all 12 points laid out by former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pompeo, who has continued to back a hardline stance on Iran since leaving office, told the<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free Beacon<\/span><\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that the Biden administration is seeking to rewind the clock to a time when Iran was not under immense international economic pressure. Additionally, the Abraham Accords, a landmark peace deal between Israel and its Arab foes, solidified a regional sea change, one that was chiefly built around opposition to Iran and its terrorist enterprise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Even accepting they want a deal\u2014why would you walk away from the leverage before you even table opening positions or initial discussions? Odd. It\u2019s as if they see this as 2015 when they left and they want to start at that point,&#8221; Pompeo said. &#8220;That is certainly the regime\u2019s position: Revert to 2015 and then we can talk.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Other lawmakers who spoke to the<\/span> <em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free Beacon<\/span><\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">about their long-term plans regarding Iran pushed back against criticism from the Biden administration and its allies that the GOP\u2019s only plan is obstruction. Rep. Darrel Issa (R., Calif.), also an HFAC member, described these claims\u2014often made by the Biden State Department\u2014as hypocritical. &#8220;To claim [Republicans] have no policy when they have deliverables on that policy is really the ultimate in disingenuous activity out of the State Department,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"my-8 hide-print\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1526555381173-4\" class=\"mobile-250 desktop-90\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congressional Republicans are working on a range of measures to stop the Biden administration from reentering the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, an effort that includes a full-court press to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274605,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1301611540_736x514.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Inside the GOP Plan to Oppose Biden\u2019s Iran Deal","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1301611540_736x514.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Inside the GOP Plan to Oppose Biden\u2019s Iran Deal","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}