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Babin Denounces Iranian Parliament Vote and the Obama Administration’s Continued Appeasement

On Sunday, the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran voted to ban all nuclear inspections of their military facilities, limit access by international inspectors to Iran’s nuclear scientists and engineers, and require that the international community provide immediate and full sanction relief as the very first step in any nuclear agreement. This is in addition to the recent admission by Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. no longer will demand that the Iranians fully disclose the past dimensions of their nuclear weapon research efforts, information which is vital to accurately assess the “break out time” before Iran could construct a functioning nuclear weapon.

The conditions set forth by the Iranian Parliament are the exact opposite of what I and many others in Congress have been pushing as the bare minimum requirements in any nuclear deal with Iran. Back in May, I pushed to have two of those requirements included in the House Energy & Water Appropriations bill that funds international nuclear nonproliferation assistance programs - namely that the Iranians certify in writing that they are giving up all nuclear weapon development efforts and that they permit the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct anytime, anywhere inspections of all civil and military sites within Iran. The first amendment passed, as did the appropriations bill itself, and while the second was not permitted to go forward because of a procedural issue, the need for those complete intrusive inspections is more clear now than ever.

The lack of these concrete requirements in the proposed Iran deal or related legislation is why I ultimately joined a small group of colleagues in opposing the final version of the watered-down Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which gives the illusion of Congressional approval and oversight but ultimately requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress not to approve a deal, but to defeat it. The actions of Iran’s parliament, along with the ongoing bellicose rhetoric of their Ayatollah and military leaders do nothing to change the conclusion that they are an irrational and untrustworthy adversary who have no business negotiating with civilized countries.

This reminds us of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said as he addressed a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress earlier this year, stating, 'no deal is better than a bad deal.' And the more we learn, it's quite apparent that this is a bad deal which will lead to a much more dangerous and unstable world.