Sec. 1232. Sense of Congress on the Government of Iran’s nuclear program and its malign military activities
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Congress finds the following: The understanding announced on April 2, 2015, between the countries of the P5+1 (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China) and Iran on a Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action (CJPOA) provides sanctions relief in exchange for constraints on Iran’s nuclear program for a limited period of time. Iran continues to develop ballistic missiles in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1747
(2007)and 1929 (2010), has developed medium-range ballistic missiles to target Israel and other United States allies, is working towards an intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM)capability and the CJPOA places no limitations on Iran’s ballistic and cruise missile development efforts. The Secretary of State has designated Iran as a state-sponsor of terrorism since 1984 and for the past decade has characterized Iran as the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran continues to support Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, Shia militias in Iraq, Hamas in Gaza, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and other terrorist organizations and extremists globally. Iran continues to conduct malign military activities across the Middle East and around the globe, which has and will continue to destabilize the region. As the Commander of United States Central Command testified to the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives on March 3, 2015, the leaders in the region… are also equally concerned about Iran’s ability to mine the Straits, Iran’s cyber capabilities, Iran’s… ballistic missile capability, as well as the activity of their Quds forces... And so whether we get a deal or don’t get a deal, I think they will still share those concerns. . Iran’s destabilizing activities throughout the region pose a threat to United States interests, the interests of United States allies in the region, and international security. It is the sense of Congress that— Iran’s illicit pursuit, development, or acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability and its malign military activities overall constitute a grave threat to regional stability and the national security interests of the United States and its allies and partners; Iran continues to expand its malign activities in the Middle East and globally, which may well increase under a CJPOA; sanctions relief under the CJPOA will provide Iran the ability to increase funding for its ballistic missile development programs, acquisition of destabilizing types and amounts of conventional weapons, support for terrorism, and other malign activities throughout the Middle East and globally; United States bilateral and multilateral sanctions against Iran, once relieved, will be extremely difficult to reconstitute in response to Iranian violations of its international obligations; Iran would be an internationally-approved nuclear-threshold state under the framework of the CJPOA, which will likely lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons across the Middle East; Congress should review and assess all elements of any agreement entered into between the countries of the P5+1 and Iran and it should approve or disapprove of any sanctions relief that results from such an agreement; the United States must continue to support the defense of allies and partners in the region, including Israel, strengthening ballistic missile defense capabilities, and increasing security assistance; Congress supports efforts to reach a peaceful, diplomatic solution to permanently and verifiably end Iran’s pursuit, development, and acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability, and it reaffirms that it is United States policy that Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapons capability and that all instruments of United States power must be considered to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon; and Congress reaffirms the rights of United States allies to exercise their legitimate right to self-defense against the Government of Iran.