[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12497-12498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    IRAN HAS NOT CHANGED ITS STRIPES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, since July 14, 2015, the Iranian 
regime has conducted four ballistic missile tests with not-so-subtle 
warnings to our ally and our best friend, the democratic Jewish state 
of Israel, which its goal was to wipe Israel off the map.
  Also, since that date, we have learned that there have been side 
agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the 
IAEA, that were not submitted to Congress for our review. The IAEA 
released a report on the possible military dimensions, known as PMD, of 
Iran's nuclear program that proved that Iran lied about its nuclear 
program in the past and continued to stonewall investigations into 
outstanding questions that remain; yet, the Iranian nuclear deal, the 
JCPOA, was allowed to move forward in spite of that.
  Also, the Obama administration purchased 32 metric tons of heavy 
water from Iran. What makes this so egregious, Mr. Speaker, is that 
this purchase was arranged in order to prevent Iran from violating the 
very terms of the Iranian nuclear deal, the JCPOA. As if that were not 
bad enough, with the administration reselling the purchased heavy water 
to domestic and commercial buyers, well, that makes the U.S. a 
proliferator of Iran nuclear materials, all while legitimizing Iran as 
a nuclear supplier. Outrageous.
  Also, Iran has renewed its interest and increased its presence in 
Latin America and throughout the Western Hemisphere. Iran's Rouhani 
will be visiting Cuba and Venezuela in the upcoming week.
  We learned that the administration allowed the Iran, North Korea, and 
Syria Nonproliferation Act sanctions against Iran to sit on a desk 
during the negotiations, despite a legal mandate to provide these 
reports to Congress every 6 months. That was the law. It was ignored.
  Also, Russia announced that it has resumed the sale of S-300s to 
Iran. And just last month, Iran announced that it deployed these S-
300s, Russian surface-to-air missiles, around its Fordow nuclear site 
to safeguard it from attacks.

[[Page 12498]]

  The administration announced a $1.7 billion settlement on a 35-year 
dispute with Iran--conveniently the day after sanctions were lifted on 
its central bank. What a coincidence. And we learned that Iran plans to 
use this ransom money for its military budget and for the Islamic 
Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, the Quds Force, meaning the U.S. 
taxpayers not only are on the hook for a ransom payment to Iran, but we 
are also subsidizing its nefarious activities.
  Where has this transparency been? When it comes to Iran and the 
nuclear deal, the JCPOA, there is an overwhelming sense that we are 
only beginning to scratch the surface of just how bad this deal really 
is. We need only to look back at what has happened with North Korea to 
understand the depth and the breadth of this failed Iranian policy 
because, as I keep repeating, Mr. Speaker, Iran has been following the 
North Korea playbook by the page, by the letter.
  And what have we just witnessed a few days ago? Well, North Korea 
just conducted its second nuclear detonation since the JCPOA--the Iran 
nuclear deal--was made, and it is its fifth detonation in the last 10 
years.
  Mr. Speaker, the JCPOA has been a foreign policy disaster already, 
but the real ramifications are yet to come. Congress must take action. 
First, we must hold the administration accountable, and we must get the 
full truth behind the details of this JCPOA--the Iran nuclear deal--and 
the administration's Iran policy.
  The supposed most transparent administration in history has been 
anything but, going out of its way to stonewall and misdirect Congress 
and our oversight responsibilities on this flawed and dangerous nuclear 
deal.
  Second, Mr. Speaker, we must hold Iran accountable, and that means 
extending sanctions, expanding sanctions, renewing sanctions, and 
preventing Iran from being able to continue down this dangerous path.
  These are the actions that we must take in Congress, Mr. Speaker, and 
I stand ready to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan manner to find 
the right way forward because Iran has not changed its stripes.

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