Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: A nuclear-capable Iran threatens United States national security and global stability. Since the 1980s, Iran has engaged in a sustained and well-documented pattern of illicit and deceptive activities to acquire a nuclear weapons capability. It is the policy of the United States to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. Iran is developing an arsenal of advanced long-range ballistic missiles, including some already capable of reaching India, North Africa, western China, and parts of eastern Europe.
The Department of State has designated Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984 and has characterized Iran as the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Iran is a world leader in human rights violations, including the persecution of religious minorities and imprisonment of United States citizens. Beginning on December 28, 2017, Iranians from all social sectors have participated in protests against the Iranian regime’s oppressive domestic policies and destructive foreign policy, in which over 1,000 protestors have been arrested and 21 have been killed.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action fails to permanently prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability and fails to provide the international community a legitimate inspections regime to monitor Iran’s nuclear program. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action allows key restraints on Iran’s nuclear program to expire within 10 to 15 years, including those on Iran’s domestic uranium enrichment program and heavy-water reactor at Arak. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015), which endorses the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, allows for lifting international restrictions on Iran with regards to conventional military arms and ballistic missiles.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action fails to address Iran’s egregious human rights record, Iran’s role as the world’s leading state-sponsor of international terrorism, and Iran’s unjust imprisonment of innocent United States citizens. On numerous occasions, Iran has violated both the letter and the spirit of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and its related agreements by exceeding the limits of heavy water production, testing ballistic missiles, seeking to acquire potentially illicit materials outside the mandatory procurement channel, and sending arms to terrorist groups around the Middle East.
The current Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action framework is insufficient in blocking Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability, and it is in the United States national security interest to renegotiate this agreement to strengthen its terms or to abrogate the agreement and use all necessary measures to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.