Bipartisan resolution rejects nuclear Iran, supports Israel’s ‘freedom of action’ to prevent it
The resolution is backed by House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul and a bipartisan group of lawmakers
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A new bipartisan resolution introduced on Tuesday reiterates U.S. opposition to a nuclear-armed Iran and declares support for Israel’s “freedom of action” to stop an Iranian nuclear weapon.
The resolution, which comes amid rising bipartisan concern over Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon and the Biden administration’s renewed efforts to engage with Tehran over its nuclear program, is sponsored by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX), joined by Republicans Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Rich McCormick (R-GA), and Democrats Brad Schneider (D-IL), Jared Golden (D-ME), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Kathy Manning (D-NC).
“In the face of unprecedented nuclear provocations from the Iranian regime, it is vital the United States make clear that a nuclear Iran is unacceptable,” McCaul said in a statement. “I am proud to lead this bipartisan resolution declaring with no ambiguity that Iran must not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon, and that the United States is willing to use all means necessary to prevent a nuclear Iran. Nothing is off the table.”
The resolution declares that it is U.S. policy that a nuclear Iran “is not acceptable” and cannot be permitted “under any circumstances or conditions”; that the U.S. will “use all means necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon”; and that U.S. partners and allies, including Israel, have the “freedom of action… to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
The legislation condemns “international complacency” toward Iran’s nuclear program, which “threatens the global nonproliferation regime.”
It also warns that Iran’s nuclear program “poses a serious threat” to the U.S., Israel and other partners and that Iran “is now in possession of irreversible and dangerous nuclear knowledge.”