Saed News: Prominent senators and Republican members of the House of Representatives are gathering signatures for draft letters, nearly identical, to U.S.
President Donald Trump, emphasizing that any nuclear agreement with Tehran must include the complete dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, and that the verification protocols of the 2015 nuclear deal will no longer be acceptable options.
According to Saed News, Jewish Insider wrote: Prominent senators and Republican members of the House of Representatives are collecting signatures for draft letters—nearly identical in content—addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump. These letters emphasize that any nuclear agreement with Tehran must include the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, and that the verification protocols of the 2015 nuclear deal are no longer acceptable options.
The report continues: These letters reflect a coordinated effort among congressional Republicans to make it clear to the Trump administration that they expect any agreement with Iran to require the total elimination of Iran’s nuclear program—especially in light of contradictory statements made by senior administration officials on this issue.
The senators’ draft letter is being led by Senators Pete Ricketts (Republican from Nebraska) and Ted Cruz (Republican from Texas). Both Ricketts and Cruz are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and hold hardline positions on Iran. Senator Tom Cotton (Republican from Arkansas), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a leading voice advocating for the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, also supports this effort.
August Pfluger (Republican from Texas) is also gathering signatures for a similar letter in the House of Representatives, a copy of which has been reviewed by Jewish Insider. He is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest Republican caucus in the House, which includes nearly three-quarters of all Republican House members. Pfluger is a military veteran and is also considered a prominent hawkish voice in the House on national security issues.
The letters state that the signatories intend to “express strong support for your efforts to reach an agreement with Iran that dismantles its nuclear program and to reinforce your and your administration’s clear warnings that the regime must permanently abandon its enrichment capabilities.”
The letters argue that due to the expansion of Iran’s nuclear program, comprehensive monitoring of enrichment under any agreement that allows continued enrichment is not possible.
“The scope and scale of Iran’s nuclear program expansion make it impossible for any new deal that allows uranium enrichment to be verifiable,” the letters say. “In its latest report published on February 26, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that due to Iran’s activities over the past four years, the agency has lost continuity of knowledge concerning the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water, and UOC (uranium ore concentrate), and that this information cannot be recovered.”
The letters also stress that Trump considered Iran’s ongoing enrichment to be the “fatal flaw” of the original 2015 agreement, which allowed Iran to approach the nuclear breakout threshold. They criticize the Biden administration for effectively re-implementing the nuclear deal, reversing Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign, and instead praise Trump’s first-term efforts.
The senators’ letter states: “We cannot allow another agreement to go forward that gives Iran the opportunity to run out the clock, as the JCPOA did. Iran must know that the administration has the support of Congress behind it to ensure that its ability to enrich uranium is permanently eliminated.”
Cruz told Jewish Insider: “President Trump is right and his critics are wrong,” he said. “He understands better than anyone that Iran has cheated on every agreement it’s entered into, and the IAEA has confirmed that no deal allowing any enrichment can be verified. This letter will underscore that congressional Republicans support the president’s red line.”
