[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 21448-21449]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      IRAN BALLISTIC MISSILE TESTS

  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. President, in just the past 10 weeks, Iran has 
conducted two ballistic missile tests. These tests are a direct 
violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929. 
Despite this flagrant violation, the U.N. has not taken collective 
action to enforce U.N. Resolution 1929 with increased sanctions against 
Iran.
  Applying sanctions against Iran in response to ballistic missile 
testing would not violate the Iran nuclear

[[Page 21449]]

agreement negotiated earlier this year. New sanctions for this type of 
behavior are not only allowed under the terms of that agreement, in 
fact, it is critical to the agreement's success that the United States 
be willing to respond to Iran's bad behavior. In the face of inaction 
by the international community, it is critical that the United States 
take the lead in sending a message to Iran that their inflammatory 
actions have consequences, whether under the nuclear deal, U.N. 
Security Council Resolution 1929, or other U.S. sanctions regimes.
  As ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces 
Subcommittee, I work year-round with my colleague Senator Jeff Sessions 
to oversee the U.S. nuclear arsenal, our nonproliferation programs, and 
also our missile defense posture. I have long been an advocate for 
robust, effective missile defense programs against both global and 
regional threats. While I firmly believe those systems are an absolute 
necessity in the face of evolving threats from places such as North 
Korea and Iran, I also believe they are our last line of defense, not 
our first. Today, thankfully, some of those on the frontlines of the 
fight against Iran's ballistic missile program are also in the State 
Department and the Treasury Department.
  I speak today to call on the administration--if the international 
community will not act together--to take unilateral action readily 
available to them under current law to respond decisively to Iran's 
ballistic missile tests. The administration has made clear that the 
United States reserves the right under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of 
Action to take action through our sanctions tools in response to Iran's 
support for terrorism, its human rights abuses, its illegal arms 
trafficking, and its ballistic missile program. It is time to back up 
those words with decisive and specific action.

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