Congressional Republicans attempt to bar the Biden administration from lifting terrorism sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as part of a new nuclear agreement with Tehran by spearheading a legislative effort.
Reps. Brian Mast (R., Fla.) and Scott Perry (R., Pa.) introduced on Monday the Preventing Terror Sympathizers from Appeasing Terrorists Act, a bill that would block the White House from delisting the IRGC from the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list without congressional approval.
“Since the president refuses to uphold his oath of office, we’re introducing this bill to prohibit him from making executive decisions when it comes to national security such as delisting known terrorist organizations,” Mast told the Free Beacon.
A Republican-authored policy analysis circulating on Capitol Hill discloses that the removal of sanctions on the IRGC could “allow Iranian nationals linked to terrorism to enter and stay in the United States,” according to a copy of that memo.
“Removing the IRGC from the Foreign Terrorist Organization list is a non-nuclear related concession to Iran which would reward terrorist blackmail, allow Iranian nationals linked to terrorism to enter and stay in the United States, weaken law enforcement’s ability to go after those providing support or resources to the IRGC, and make it harder to hold those outside U.S. soil criminally accountable for helping the IRGC,” the analysis states.
The Mast-Perry bill is one of several pieces of legislation meant to force the Biden administration into consulting with Congress on the deal. While the White House is required under a 2015 law to present any deal with Iran to Congress for approval, it has become increasingly clear that the administration will bypass this law.
A separate piece of bipartisan legislation introduced in the House last week and first reported by the Free Beacon would require the Biden administration to disclose how sanctions relief for Iran will boost the IRGC’s capabilities.
