[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15527]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     IRAN SANCTIONS EXTENSION BILL

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise to voice my support of the 
extension of the Iran Sanctions Act, which I believe we must treat as 
just one step in our continued efforts to counter Iran's destabilizing 
and nefarious actions throughout the world. This bill merely extends 
the basis of our extensive sanctions network against Iran aimed at 
crippling the Ayatollah's deadly pursuit of a nuclear weapon for 10 
years.
  The Iran Sanctions Act, which is part of the extensive network of 
sanctions that I helped author for the United States and our allies to 
levy against the Iranian regime, serves as the basis of the economic 
leverage that brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place. 
Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have authored and championed the 
foundation of our network of sanctions that crippled Iran's economy and 
kept its nuclear pursuits at bay. It has been my consistent position 
that the United States must address these nefarious activities apart 
from the nuclear portfolio. We need to send a signal to Iran that the 
United States, while meeting its obligations under the JCPOA, will 
continue to respond to other threatening and dangerous activities the 
Iranian regime has taken.
  Throughout debate over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, its 
proponents made a number of repeated claims. Among these were that it 
was crippling sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table and 
that in the event of a breach of the agreement, the United States and 
our implementing partners would have every authority to ``snap back''--
the term that was coined--the sanctions that have been lifted. If the 
sanctions architecture has expired, then we have no sanctions which we 
can snap back. These sanctions were in place when the JCPOA was 
authored and signed, and it follows that they should remain in place.
  Many of the agreement's proponents argued that putting the JCPOA in 
place would give the United States and our allies the opportunity to 
focus on countering Iran's more conventional threats to American 
security and regional stability. Since the nuclear agreement came into 
force, Iran has continued its efforts to destabilize the region and 
increase its power through proxy and terrorist networks.
  Since we signed the nuclear agreement with Iran, Iran has been 
testing the agreement, testing our resolve, and quite literally testing 
long-range ballistic missiles. We have seen multiple ballistic missile 
tests in the past year and a half--in October and November of last year 
and in March and May of this year and one launch not far from U.S. 
naval vessels. We have seen American sailors humiliated and detained at 
gunpoint. Just this weekend, a vessel controlled by the IRGC--the 
Iranian Revolutionary Guard--pointed a weapon at a U.S. military 
helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.
  Iran continues to support a Houthi insurgency that toppled the 
legitimate Government of Yemen. It supports Shia militias in Iraq who 
seek to control the democratically elected Iraqi Government and bring 
it closer in line with Iran, threatening to return Iraq to civil war or 
worse. It supports Assad in Syria and continues to send millions of 
dollars and sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas, threatening 
innocent civilians in Syria and Israel's security. It continues human 
rights violations and sustains an aging clergy who is losing touch with 
the hopes and dreams of young Iranians and moderates, an out-of-touch 
clergy who dominates the power structures and the security apparatus 
that restricts civil liberties and promotes its hegemonic regional 
destabilization. It has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in 
the Middle East, capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction, 
chemical weapons, biological weapons, and continues to develop cyber 
war capabilities.
  Iran continues its development of space-launch vehicles that can lead 
to a longer range missile capability. It has cooperated with North 
Korea on the transfer of ballistic missile technology. This is in 
addition to the fact that Iran has, by its own admission, violated the 
JCPOA itself. The International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has 
twice violated the terms of the agreement by producing more heavy water 
than the deal allows for. An excess stockpile of heavy water--a 
critical component of operating nuclear reactors--reduces Iran's 
nuclear breakout time. Yet, even with this violation, the United States 
and our implementing partners have upheld our end of the bargain.
  As I have repeatedly said and which I outlined in the bill I authored 
earlier this year, we must take decisive action in response to Iran's 
behavior which is in violation, among other things, of the United 
Nations Security Council resolutions and threatens America's interests 
and regional stability. The United States must reserve the right to 
hold Iran accountable for all of its actions, and that is exactly what 
my legislation would do by imposing stricter sanctions tied to specific 
nefarious actions outside the nuclear portfolio.
  After months of consultations with my colleagues in the Senate, 
outside experts, and constituents, I introduced a bipartisan bill, S. 
3267, the Countering Iranian Threats Act, on July 14, just before 
Congress broke for recess. Its acronym, CITA, not only extends the Iran 
Sanctions Act, which we will do independently today, it also expands 
sanctions for ballistic missile development, support for terrorism, and 
other illicit Iranian actions, and it sanctions transfers of 
conventional weapons to or from Iran--the totality of Iran's dangerous 
behavior outside of the nuclear portfolio. Specifically, it requires 
the administration to identify the specific Iranians, persons, or 
entities that are engaged in these activities and then apply sanctions 
that freeze their assets and block their international travel and 
business interests. In this way, the sanctions are surgical and 
designed to avoid interference with the terms of the Iran nuclear deal.
  We must provide leverage to seek necessary change in the conduct of 
the Iranian regime and hold Iran accountable for meeting its 
international obligations, including the terms of the JCPOA. We will 
improve the deplorable human rights situation in Iran and double down 
on our reassurances to Israel and American allies in the region of our 
full commitment to regional security.
  The fact is, there is much we can do to ensure a bright future 
undimmed by a nuclear cloud. We must authorize the Iran Sanctions Act 
that I have authored so that, as flawed as the JCPOA was, in my view, 
the Iranians will know the consequences of any breach and we will deal 
with missile proliferation, terrorism, and regional destabilization 
that is just as dangerous and just as threatening to American security 
and to our ally, the State of Israel, and our other allies in the 
region. I hope we will get to that new phase in the next Congress.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rubio). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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