Congressional Republicans are circulating a letter calling for Iran‘s nuclear program to be fully dismantled as the Trump administration gives mixed messages on the purpose of its negotiations.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, plan to send a letter to the White House expressing support for negotiations that lead Iran to “permanently give up any capacity for enrichment,” according to Jewish Insider.
The Washington Examiner confirmed the letter began circulating to Senate offices on Wednesday afternoon. Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, is sharing a companion letter in the House.
President Donald Trump has committed to “full dismantlement,” reiterating on Wednesday that the United States will destroy Iran’s centrifuges “nicely,” through a deal, or “viciously,” through a military strike. But his administration has at other times signaled a softer stance.
Vice President JD Vance said at a defense conference on Wednesday that Iran could keep its “civil nuclear power.” Steve Witkoff, Trump’s chief envoy to the Middle East, also appeared to suggest Iran could keep some enrichment capacity last month before dismissing the possibility a day later.
The letter seeks to reinforce the hawkish position taken on Iran in Trump’s first term, blaming former President Joe Biden for dropping his “maximum pressure campaign.” It simultaneously argues that inspectors would be unable to verify new limits on enrichment due to the “breadth of Iran’s nuclear buildout,” citing a February report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Cruz and Ricketts’s effort follows warnings by other Republicans intently watching the state of negotiations. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, will hold a press conference on Thursday with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another defense hawk, on “acceptable outcomes” for an eventual deal.
Cotton supports the Senate letter, according to a source familiar with the matter. He and other Republicans were critical of the 2015 nuclear agreement reached by former President Barack Obama, which placed guardrails on Iran’s program but still allowed enrichment.
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“We cannot afford another agreement that enables Iran to play for time,” the draft letter reads, referring to the Obama-era deal. “The Iranian regime should know that the administration has Congressional backing to ensure their ability to enrich uranium is permanently eliminated.”
The White House is also facing a pressure campaign from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group. Last month, it put $500,000 behind ads calling for Iran’s nuclear program to be dismantled “for good.”