Republicans Urged to Create Congressional Advisor on Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A US congresswoman called on Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan to establish a special advisor on Iran to help ensure the Obama administration is imposing all required sanctions against Tehran.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also the former chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Senior Advisor for Sanctions Policy and Iran Coordinator would help strengthen Congress' oversight of Iran, and ensure "greater enforcement of sanctions" imposed against Iranians and Iranian entities, Washington Examiner reported on Saturday.
"The individual would serve as the congressional equivalent to Ambassador Stephen Mull, whom the Obama administration named to serve as coordinator for the US implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran Nuclear Program at the Department of State," Ros-Lehtinen wrote to Ryan in December.
She also suggested that Ryan pick her former staffer director, Dr. Yleem Poblete, serve as the congressional advisor.
On Wednesday, reports had surfaced that the Treasury Department would impose sanctions against individuals in Iran, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates following Iran’s missile testing in October and November.
US officials quoted by the Journal did not suggest a timeframe for the sanctions.
On Thursday, the Obama administration said it would delay the sanctions.
The announcement by the White House came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday ordered the Defense Ministry to continue production of missiles needed by the country’s Armed Forces “more quickly and seriously”.
In a letter to Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, President Rouhani denounced the US government’s “hostile policies and illegal interference in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to boost its defense power,” and instructed the Defense Ministry to “continue the plans to manufacture various types of missiles needed by the Armed Forces more quickly and seriously.”
Elsewhere in the letter, President Rouhani warned that if the US repeats such “wrong and interventionist” moves, the Iranian Defense Ministry must develop a “new plan” for expanding the country’s missile capabilities.
The Iranian chief executive further stressed that the Islamic Republic has never let the issue of its defense power, including its missile program, be mooted in the nuclear negotiations with the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Iran has repeatedly announced that test of missiles is an issue relating to defense of its territorial integrity and has nothing to do with the JCPOA.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (also known as the P5+1 or E3+3) on July 14 reached a conclusion on a 159-page nuclear agreement that would terminate all sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program after coming into force.
Afterwards, the 15-memebr United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.
