Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Offers Warning on a Nuclear Iran

From her perch as chair of the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., held a hearing on “Iran’s Enduring Ballistic Missile Threat" on Wednesday. The Florida congresswoman issued a warning on the dangers a nuclear Iran poses:

We are less than three weeks away from the supposed June 30th nuclear deal deadline. This dangerous deal will open the pathway for Iran to become a nuclear threshold state, will legitimize this pariah nation on the international scene, and will help fund the regime’s other illicit behavior. And, despite the ongoing nuclear negotiations, and our repeated efforts to call attention to the shortcomings of the Framework Agreement, Iran continues to:

·         Spread its terror across the globe;

·         Stoke sectarian tensions across the Middle East;

·         Destabilize the region and expand its hegemonic ambitions – now controlling the Arab capitals of Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sana’a;

·         Oppress and persecute religious minorities;

·         Iran continues to be one of the world’s worst human rights violators;

·         Iran continues to violate international sanctions and even, reportedly, violate the terms of the Joint Plan of Action and now the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or framework agreement;

·         And Iran’s regime continues to make advances on its ballistic missile program.

There are many glaring omissions from the Obama administration and P5+1’s nuclear negotiations with Iran that have caused many to rightly worry and call this possible deal weak and dangerous. But perhaps the biggest failure of these negotiations was to limit them to just the nuclear profile and omit all of these other illicit activities – most notably the continued progress on the ballistic missile program. Just last week, the Pentagon reported that Iran continues to make technological advances on its missile program, despite the ongoing negotiations and despite the sanctions, both multilateral and unilateral, for doing so. The mere fact that Iran continues to make these advances on Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and other ballistic missiles – weapons that have very little practical use outside of delivering a nuclear payload – simply belies the notion that Iran’s nuclear program is intended for peaceful uses.

Taken with reports that Iran’s nuclear stockpiles have actually grown during the negotiations, this demonstrates the regime’s clear and undeniable intent to develop a nuclear weapon. For the sake of negotiations, Iran’s ballistic missile program is off limits, but for the sake of lifting the sanctions on Iran at the U.N. Security Council, everything is nuclear related, as the administration aims to lift as many sanctions as possible – in turn giving Iran more access to billions of dollars.  This makes no sense and it is dangerous.

So what impact will a potential nuclear deal have on Iran’s ballistic missile program, on our U.S. national security, and the stability of the region? Well, if the Iranian regime gets this reported $50 billion signing bonus, a good portion of that money will get invested right back into Iran’s illicit activities, including its ballistic missile program. As the U.N .Panel of Experts reported last week, we’re already having a difficult time maintaining these sanctions, as many nations are looking the other way on sanctions, in expectation that they will get lifted. When the sanctions are lifted, Iran will go back to working with its allies – the regimes of North Korea, Syria, Russia and China – to acquire what it needs to further advance its ballistic missile program.

Iran and Syria have obtained ballistic missiles and technology from North Korea – a nexus that the Obama administration has failed to address head on, by not prioritizing INKSNA sanctions against these dangerous regimes. With ballistic missiles already able to hit parts of Europe and target our ally, the democratic Jewish State of Israel, Iran will soon be able to create more sophisticated ballistic missiles that are more capable, and will be able to advance its ICBM program that would be capable of hitting us here in the U.S. Iran has the most extensive ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East, with the U.S. Intelligence Community assessing that Iran has a substantial inventory of Medium Range Ballistic Missiles, including the Shahab and its variants. Iran’s space program is a cover for its continued ICBM program, as the two would share many similarities.

If Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs go unchecked, it will give Tehran the ability to continue to perfect their ballistic missile program to be used, once the nuclear deal expires.  We’ve already seen Russia lift its suspension on the sale of S-300 missile systems to Iran; These S-300s will give Iran a new capability to defend its nuclear facilities or its ballistic missile platforms. The ink wasn’t even dry yet on the Framework Agreement, and Russia moved in to take advantage, because Putin surely expects the Iranian sanctions to be lifted. This nuclear deal is not only the legitimization that Iran has sought on the international stage – it is also the green light that it needed to continue to pursue nuclear weapons and the platforms with which they would be delivered.