WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. John Katko (NY-24), Ranking Member on the House Committee on Homeland Security, today led Homeland Security Committee Republicans in an effort urging the Biden Administration to reconsider lifting sanctions on Iran.
This effort follows recent reporting that the Biden Administration has offered sanctions relief to Iran to broker a nuclear deal. For months, Rep. Katko and Homeland Republicans have warned of the irreversible impact this action could have on our homeland and national security.
In February, Homeland Security Republicans, led by Ranking Member John Katko, wrote to President Biden and underscored the importance of maintaining strong sanctions on Iran.
“It is the policy of the United States not to allow Iran to develop or otherwise acquire a nuclear weapons capability,” wrote the members in February. “Sanctions are an important point of leverage if we intend to achieve this goal diplomatically and peacefully. Lifting sanctions will only serve to back the United States into an inescapable corner and removes any power we hold in our attempts to normalize Iranian and United States relations.”
“Under no circumstance can we allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. We implore you to reconsider lifting these sanctions,” continued the members.
Read the members’ February letter here.
*Press release from John Katko’s Press Office.
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Ok, so again, these are horrific Republican policy positions … Iran’s major historical crime was overthrowing a US-installed and US-backed dictator in 1979 … Iran was able to break free from US imperial domination … so the imperial United States, Republican and Democrat, since 1979, has pursued a policy of economic terrorism (sanctions) in addition to outright terroristic violence (assassinations of Iranian officials and scientists, for example) and constant threats of war and violence.
Katko, I guess seeking to maintain his Republican bona fides, has taken a hawkish position on Iran, like the rest of the fascistic Republican Party.
Why does the United States vilify and terrorize Iran while cozying up to the far worse regime in Saudi Arabia? The United States has chosen a foreign policy which creates an ally out of the heart of anti-US Islamist terror (Saudi Arabia) and vilifies Iran, which like the United States, fights against Saudi-based and Saudi-cultivated terrorism (al Qaeda and ISIS, for example).
So the Republican Party, as is typical, is pursuing the exact wrong Middle East policy. Republicans passionately support the flow of US arms into Saudi Arabia (ie arming the oldest fundamentalist Islamic regime in the world), passionately support the US-Saudi genocide in Yemen, and support a host of Arab dictatorships which comprise the most repressive regimes in the region (not to mention full Republican support for the perpetual Israeli project to establish Jewish supremacy in Palestine, while wiping the Palestinian nation off the map of Palestine).
The United States should be breaking its ties to Saudi Arabia and embracing peace and understanding with Iran. Republicans are doing the exact opposite … with even a “moderate” Republican like Katko creating the conditions for the next criminal US invasion. Change your stance John. Thanks.