By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 the U.S. House of Representative voted to continue the sanctions against Iran through 2026. U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R from Montgomery) supports continuing the sanctions.
Congresswoman Roby said on social media, “The House just voted to reauthorize the Iran Sanctions Act to continue sanctions on Iran for the next ten years. We will continue to hold the regime accountable and hinder the nation’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.”
Roby said that she supports extending the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (ISA) to 2026. “I support continued and additional economic sanctions on Iran because I believe that these sanctions are essential to forcing the rogue nation to abandon its nuclear ambitions. When economic conditions are strong and sanctions are ramped up, Iran has historically been more interested in civil negotiations.”
Rep. Roby said, “Extension of ISA is critical to ensuring that our country maintains the upper hand in these negotiations with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Read more below.”
The sanctions expire at the end of December. The House Republican majority supports changing that date to 2026.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement, “The Obama administration gambled that its nuclear deal would make the regime in Tehran behave more responsibly. Instead, over the past year: Iran has accelerated its illicit weapons programs – including development of missiles capable of launching a nuclear weapon at the United States; Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps forces have worsened an already horrible conflict in Syria, and; Iran has stepped up support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas that have attacked the United States and Israel.”
The Committee said that the, “Iran Sanctions Act is central to protecting America from Iran’s threatening behavior. For more than 20 years, the Iran Sanctions Act has supported a framework of sanctions aimed at Iran’s illicit weapons programs and ballistic missiles development.
But unless Congress acts, the Iran Sanctions Act will expire at the end of the year.
That’s why, today, the House will vote on Chairman Royce’s bipartisan bill – H.R. 6297 – to provide a long-term extension of the Iran Sanctions Act. It will extend sanctions on Iran’s weapons programs that were not lifted under the nuclear agreement and provide clear authority to “snap-back” many of the most powerful sanctions on Iran’s energy industry if the regime rushes toward a nuclear weapon.”
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R from Wisconsin said in his own statement following House passage of H.R. 6297, the Iran Sanctions Extension Act: “The Iranian regime continues to finance terrorism, test-fire ballistic missiles, abuse its people, and, as recently as last week, violate the nuclear agreement. Today’s bipartisan vote will help maintain our ability to immediately reinstate sanctions against Iran over the next decade. I appreciate Chairman Royce and his entire committee for their work on this important bill, and hope the president will agree to sign it.”
President-elect Donald J. Trump has called the President’s Iran deal a “horrible” and “disastrous” agreement. Trump has vowed to renegotiate or kill the agreement when he is President.
Congresswoman Roby said that she wants Republicans to go on offense now that President Barack H. Obama (D) is leaving office. Roby said in a statement, “It has now been over a week since the 2016 election, which will certainly go down as one of the most consequential in modern American history. After six years in Congress of playing defense against the Obama Administration, I’m looking forward to playing offense with a Republican-led House, Senate, and White House and hopefully being able to get more done.”
Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District.
