[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10459]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      NUCLEAR AGREEMENT WITH IRAN

  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, as I speak, Secretary Kerry is on his way 
to Geneva to try to conclude nuclear negotiations with the Iranian 
regime.
  To Secretary Kerry: I urge you to suspend negotiations until we clear 
up two matters.
  No. 1, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini said on state-run 
television in Iran, yesterday and the day before, ``All economic, 
financial and banking sanctions, implemented either by the United 
Nations Security Council, the United States Congress or the 
administration, must be lifted immediately when the deal is signed.'' 
Secretary Kerry, would you please tell the Ayatollah that is 
unacceptable and repudiate that statement before you negotiate any 
further.
  The Iranian Parliament, several days ago, passed draft legislation 
prohibiting the international community from having access to Iranian 
military facilities to determine the state of the Iranian nuclear 
program. Secretary Kerry, please suspend negotiations until the Iranian 
Government repudiates this concept. The P5+1 should be firm in these 
areas: There will never be a deal signed with Iran that does not allow 
for anytime, anywhere inspections of nuclear sites, particularly 
military sites. How can you negotiate any further until they repudiate 
the actions they have taken?
  Please tell me--and I will send you a letter--what to tell my 
constituents who are very worried about this. I am being overwhelmed by 
questions: Does the Iranian Parliament action represent the position of 
the Iranian Government? My answer would be yes. Nothing happens in Iran 
unless the Ayatollah wants it to happen.
  So Secretary Kerry and the P5+1, please tell the Iranians that the 
action of the Parliament--the statement they have made that we will not 
be allowed to inspect military facilities as part of a deal--is a 
nonstarter and walk away until they repudiate that. Please send a 
message to the Ayatollah through the negotiators that we will not lift 
sanctions until there is full compliance, until the IAEA has a chance 
to tell us about the possible military dimensions of their nuclear 
program. How can you lift sanctions and go forward and give them money 
until you know exactly what they have been up to in the past?
  Secretary Kerry, now is a time for you and President Obama to send a 
clear message to the Iranians: repudiate these two statements or we 
will not negotiate any further.
  This is the most important decision any President of the United 
States will make, and we are about to go into negotiations in the final 
stages with two thought processes on the table coming from the highest 
level of the Iranian Government: You will not be allowed to inspect 
military facilities, and we will demand immediate sanctions relief 
before there is verification.
  Those two statements coming from the Iranian leadership must be 
repudiated--and repudiated now. Walk away, Secretary Kerry, until they 
repudiate these statements. No more negotiations until we understand, 
is this a red line for the Iranians. Because if this is their red line, 
I will now ask you in public: Secretary Kerry, are these positions red 
lines for the Iranian Government? Have they now adopted a red line that 
you will never be allowed to inspect military facilities as part of an 
inspection regime to determine the past development of nuclear weapons 
in Iran? Secondly, is this now a red line by the Ayatollah; that they 
will never agree to a deal that doesn't allow for immediate sanctions 
relief?
  I need to know the answer to that question. Are these red lines? And 
if they are red lines, walk away. And if they are not red lines, have 
these statements repudiated because this is the most important decision 
the world will ever make.
  God help us all if we enter into a deal with this regime that is not 
sound, with every i dotted and every t crossed, because the Iranians 
have been cheating and lying about their nuclear ambitions for well 
over a decade, and at the end of the day, you can't trust the Iranians.
  I urge as strongly as possible that the P5+1 suspend negotiations 
until the Iranians set the record straight and repudiate these 
statements about denying us access to military facilities and requiring 
immediate sanctions relief as part of any deal.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

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