If Biden Won’t Stand Up to Iran, Congress Should Stand Up to Biden

It should intervene using the legislation it passed in 2015 to force a vote to deny Iran sanctions relief.

By , and
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The Biden administration’s Iran policy is collapsing, and it is well past time for Congress to intervene using a key tool it crafted in 2015: the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA). Soon after President Biden took office, the United States and five other world powers—the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China—engaged Iran in six rounds of talks to restore the 2015 nuclear accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), from which the Trump administration withdrew in 2018. The negotiations have stalled since June, shortly after the installation of Iran’s ultra-hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi. The administration—in apparent desperation to revive the deal—appears on the verge of offering Iran extensive new sanctions relief that would underwrite an expansion of the regime’s malign activities.

Judging by Raisi’s appointing a slate of hardliners to his Cabinet, including Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, Tehran appears ready to steamroll U.S. negotiators. The Biden administration, which had unilaterally relaxed some U.S. sanctions and reportedly agreed to concessions above and beyond the JCPOA’s flawed terms, now appears eager to flood the Tehran regime with some $90 billion in frozen assets and to lift terrorism, ballistic missile, and human rights sanctions unrelated to the JCPOA.

What’s more, the administration is ignoring Congress’s questions about what exactly it has already agreed to. Behind the scenes, the Biden State Department is stonewalling Congress by ignoring letters from senators and representatives asking for details and documents on Iran policy and planned sanctions relief. Requests have either gone unanswered or the administration has provided insignificant information. Career officials privately report that the administration has ignored or silenced their internal concerns and objections.

Before and after Biden took office, his advisers protested Trump’s maximum economic pressure campaign that the former president instituted after withdrawing from the JCPOA. Biden’s team warned that sanctions only worsened Iran’s malign behavior and nuclear escalations. Now, the administration has had had eight months to try its approach: much-vaunted diplomacy and multilateralism, paired with a pause in enforcement of key U.S. sanctions to induce moderation in the Islamic Republic’s behavior.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “ And as Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted earlier this month, the regime is still targeting other American citizens, including current and former U.S. officials.”

    Wait what? Is Iran going to assassinate our ambassador to Israel or something?

    Congress needs to take back its treaty powers. This entire charade of executives exercising extra-treaty powers to do foreign policy while circumventing the Constitution is entirely illegitimate.

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  2. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    Further. Conservatives with any decency and respect need to get the message.

    The Republican Party is THE singular Existential threat to America.

    Not Iran. Not China. Not Putin. Not the Taliban.

    Right here. The GOP.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Narwhal

      I disagree. I think it is public corruption. High and low. Left, right, and center. Elected and unelected.

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      1. Avatar photo
        DougAz

        We do have so much corruption. One the biggest and most damaging to me, is Ultra conservative connected lobbyist Ginny Thomas' influence over US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She was a lobbyist in CitizensUnited. That went well!

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          Narwhal

          Based on your comments here that I’ve seen over previous months my assumption is that you tend to vote Democrat and are some type of liberal or progressive. Cool.

          However, if you only get agitated by public corruption from the opposing team then you probably aren’t as concerned about it as I am. Though I could be wrong.

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          1. Avatar photo
            DougAz

            I'm 67. Grew up conservative until I saw its many flaws.

            I get concerned about public corruption in all places. While it exists with Dems, the difference is Dems get greedy. Cons want assymetric power and do that in corrupt ways.

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      2. Avatar photo
        Narwhal

        Private sector corruption is also a problem, but that will never been adequately addressed until public corruption is.

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  3. Avatar photo
    DougAz

    Sorry authors but this is a pathetic effort for more war, more military industry spending.

    No. Never. Ever.

    Get over it WarCons. WarConning is over. Seen it with Bush-Cheney and we Americans have had it with this BS Fear mongering.

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  4. Avatar photo
    Bill Nelson

    Congress will do nothing. The progressive element will not do anything which will disrupt Iran and Pelosi needs to toss them a bone to keep them inline. The underlying context behind President Obama’s Iran policy is that the really are okay, but behave badly because of US actions over the years.

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  5. Token Liberal

    I am constantly confused by the foreign policy histrionic partisan hackery in The Dispatch. I'm OK with strong opinions, but so many of the foreign policy pieces seem more like agenda driven hit pieces than thoughtful persuasion. Just out of character?

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    1. Counterpoint

      There’s just something about conservative foreign policy hawks that makes them talk / write in this church revival type tone. They remind me of an old joke about a certain kind of manager in the workplace - “always wrong, never in doubt.”

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      Bill Nelson

      The difference between agenda driven hit pieces and thoughtful persuasion perhaps is it disagrees with your view. But you offer no actual disagreement to the content, or any comment on actual policy.

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      1. Token Liberal

        Hmmm. Not to me. I disagree all the time on this site. It just seems that some of the foreign policy pieces strike a kind of strident tone that is different than the typical article.

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        1. Avatar photo
          Bill Nelson

          I read each of the columns for content, not assuming motive. But as a center right source, there will be a lot of criticism of the administration’s left/center left policies. And there are many people who view any accommodation with Iran as dangerous.

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          1. Token Liberal

            Part of my frustration is that I'm not sure I even disagree with the position in the article. Iran is an implacable enemy. There are not, nor have there really ever been, 'moderates' to do business with. The nuclear deal appeared to be effectively limiting Iranian development of nuclear weapons for a while, but at a very high cost. The Trump pllicy of maximum pressure limited Iranian options, but got them back on the road to uranium enrichment. Is there a thoughtful and honest discussion of these problems anywhere, or are we stuck with advocates of Obama/Biden verses advocates of Trump?

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  6. Avatar photo
    Frank Lee

    Old senile puppets don't stand on their own... they need puppet handlers. I don't see Joe Biden as having any principles that are authentic. He is a teleprompter POTUS and others are writing his lines.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Narwhal

      Can you name the last president who didn’t have speech writers?

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      1. Avatar photo
        Frank Lee

        Can you ask a relevant question?

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        1. Avatar photo
          Narwhal

          So, no you can’t. Thanks.

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          1. Avatar photo
            Frank Lee

            It is a ridiculous and non-serious question and I think you know it. Yes, all Presidents will use speech writers and use a teleprompter. But most will edit the speeches before delivering. And the POTUS before Biden did most of his delivery to the media and at the podium without prepared remarks. Or in the case where he did have prepared remarks, we would go off script frequently. Consequently we understood where he really stood on issues. For Biden we have no clue what he actually believes in. He has flipped and flopped so many times on so many critical issues it is clear that he will just blow with the political winds. It is also clear from the campaign where we stayed in his basement and then as POTUS where he is prevented from answering questions.... saying things like "they told me I can only say this."... or "I will get in trouble saying this, but...". Biden is a puppet. He has really always demonstrated he will shape-shift to keep his political career... but now it is beyond that. He does not know were he is much of the time let alone know what he believes in.

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            Bill Nelson

            There is a very real element here. Without the teleprompter does Biden ever stand up and take real unscripted questions? No. His communications are very tightly controlled, and the press is starting to tire of this.

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  7. Mary Stine

    The problem here is that multiple groups of fact deniers are slinging half truths around like pizza.
    And some of those folks are full on conspiracy theorists who also happen to be Iranian citizens.
    I don't believe you can reach those people with logical persuasion. What might work would be to leak the rumor that enriched uranium production causes widespread erectile dysfunction.
    Worth a try.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Narwhal

    Unilateral sanctions are not as effective as multilateral sanctions. Which is why the Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA without cause was unwise and possibly foolish.

    “Both houses of Congress would need to pass a joint simple-majority resolution to prevent sanctions from lifting, which would then go to the president, who would certainly veto it. It is unlikely that Congress could override a presidential veto with the required two-thirds majority, given that Democrats hold majorities in the House and Senate, and many would feel compelled to support a key Biden foreign policy initiative.”

    The authors of the article concede that Congress will not be able to muster enough votes to override a presidential veto. Yet, they still want members of Congress to attempt to do so as a messaging exercise. Creating greater division and rancor within the US doesn’t seem worth what little would be gained from such a messaging exercise.

    But, Iran hawks are gonna Iran hawk. And my comment won’t change their course. Good luck finding support among a majority of the US in support of your efforts.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Bill Nelson

      “ Creating greater division and rancor within the US doesn’t seem worth what little would be gained from such a messaging exercise.”
      It is important as it provides a path for the citizens to weigh in.

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        Narwhal

        So, you think messaging bills which everyone knows will fail are good?

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  9. Emma

    Sorry, but the title alone lost me. Congress can't stand up for anything. Lets not waste time on fiction.

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      Bill Nelson

      Then you have snuffed out the Marvel Universe.

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      rlritt

      I agree. They first need to stop fighting over spending and realize that there are more important things to care about like the lies told by career politicians who still support the incompetent megalomaniac Trump.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Chris L

    If Congress was able to compel Trump to sanction Russia despite his obstinance against doing so, Congress can compel Biden similarly on Iran.

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