Freshman Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-TX) is taking aim at the Biden administration’s talks about reentering the Iran Nuclear Deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a disastrous accord that the Obama administration originally spearheaded and the Trump administration exited.
Gonzales introduced the Constraining Human Rights Offenders in the Middle East (CHROME) Act this week, a bill that would ban the reentry into the Iran Deal unless the president vows that no relief of sanctions will benefit terrorist organizations. The legislation aims to ensure that the egregious human rights violations, including torture, murder of peaceful protesters, and oppression of LGBT individuals, are not aided.
“No waiver or suspension of a sanction waived or suspended pursuant to such re-entry will operate to the benefit, directly or indirectly, of any organization or any member of an organization designated as a foreign terrorist organization,” the bill reads. “No waiver or suspension of a sanction waived or suspended pursuant to such re-entry will operate to the benefit, directly or indirectly, of any individual or entity of the Government of Iran that has engaged in the gross violation of human rights, such as the commission of torture, the killing of peaceful protestors, or the persecution of homosexual persons.”
Gonzales warned that the administration cannot “turn a blind eye” to the human rights violations committed by terrorist organizations.
“As the Biden Administration makes misguided steps to re-enter the Iran Deal, we have to ensure that funds are staying out of the dangerous hands of terrorist organizations,” he said. “The United States cannot turn a blind eye and allow sanction relief to benefit terrorist organizations like Hezbollah or the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – groups that are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers and thousands of other innocent lives.”
The deal was originally joined by former President Obama unilaterally, without congressional approval. Biden is on track to make the same move, while ignoring known human rights abuses.