Thread by @SenatorHagerty

Yesterday’s U.S.-E3 statement on the Iran nuclear deal raises big questions. Let’s take a closer look. The Biden Team pledges that if Iran takes some modest steps to re-enter the deal, we’ll lift vast & powerful sanctions that took years to impose. state.gov/joint-statemen…

This is important: Iran’s central bank & state oil and tanker companies are now penalized not just by nuclear sanctions, but also by terrorism sanctions. So will the Biden team lift both nuclear & terrorism sanctions here just to bribe Iran into complying with flawed deal?

The signal from Team Biden is yes. We know Iran was told “wait ‘em out til we get back.’ (#LoganAct?). @POTUS Biden: Don’t give away our leverage for a headline . . .

reuters.com/article/us-usa…

The Biden-Euro statement suggests Iran’s missiles, terrorism, hostage-taking & human rights abuses are problems to address after nuclear issue. But if we lift our powerful sanctions to revive a flawed agreement, we then forfeit the leverage necessary to deal with other threats.

Many in Europe are begging the U.S. to re-engage with Iran, because European businesses are desperate to do business with Iran but they need our sanctions lifted. We should stand w/allies who stand with us, but America’s policy shouldn't be #EuropeFirst.

reuters.com/article/iran-g…

And what about Israel and our other allies in Iran’s neighborhood? For them, the nuclear issue is not the only existential threat from Iran. They face grave and growing threats every day from Iranian missiles, cyberattacks, terrorists & militant proxies.

reuters.com/article/iran-n…

Our hard-won terrorism sanctions aim directly at these threats.

We saw this approach fail before. Starting in 2015, Iran spent the deal’s massive financial windfall on military & terrorism. The result was a regional disaster until US, Israel & other allies pushed back.

reuters.com/article/us-ira…

If the Biden team gives a new wave of financial relief, expect Iran to double down on terrorism.

We should never remove terrorism sanctions so long as Iran is conducting or backing terrorist attacks on us or our allies. Look no further than the attack this month that targeted Americans in Iraq. Does anyone think there was no Iranian involvement?

washingtonpost.com/opinions/globa…

Iran must stop conducting and backing terrorism before we ever take the step of removing the terrorism sanctions that have been successfully implemented since 2018.

state.gov/reports/countr…