Highland County (Ohio) Press
Senators urge Blinken to seek comprehensive UN sanctions on Iran missile, drone programs
7 November 2023
WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to seek comprehensive United Nations (UN) sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) expires in 2025.
Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-S.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also signed the letter.
“We urge you to table a new comprehensive framework for Iran-related sanctions that supersedes UNSC Resolution 2231 and lays the groundwork in advance of the resolution’s slated termination in October 2025,” the senators wrote.
“Iran’s nuclear program remains the number one long-term threat to stability and security in the Middle East and beyond. However, this is not the only threat the Iranian regime poses. Iran’s material support for terrorist organizations like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and other proxy forces in the Middle East are front and center in the current crisis in Israel, as is Tehran’s assistance for Russia’s war in Ukraine,” they explained.
“In addition to the expiry in October 2020 of the UN’s conventional arms embargo against Iran, the most recent expiration of sanctions on ballistic missiles and drones leaves the world with a rapidly evaporating UN framework for multilateral sanctions on Iran at precisely the time the threat from Iran has become so menacingly clear,” they added.
The senators wrote that a new UNSC resolution should target the same activity the UN permanently sanctioned prior to the 2015 enactment of Resolution 2231, including:
- Involvement in Iran’s enrichment, reprocessing and heavy water production.
- Assistance with its ballistic missile testing, development and launches.
- Transfer of nuclear and missile technology to Iran.
- Transfer of conventional weapons, rockets and drones to and from Iran.
“It should also add a multilateral prohibition on the import of Iranian oil, petroleum products, metals, or investment in its energy sector, essentially multi-lateralizing the objective of American secondary sanctions in these areas,” the lawmakers concluded.
The senators noted that Beijing and Moscow have made common cause with each other and Iran to undermine the global operating system in support of liberty that the U.S. has forged in cooperation with its allies over the last 80 years. They argued that U.S. must open a conversation with those same allies about the path forward should UNSC Resolution 2231 sanctions expire permanently in 2025.