Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Wants New Sanctions on Iran

From her perch as chairwoman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., is not happy that talks with Iran on its nuclear program have been extended past the Monday deadline. Ros-Lehtinen called for Congress to impose new sanctions on Iran when Republicans take control of the Senate in January.

The latest nuclear extension by the P5+1 defies logic because it illustrates that Iran is not serious about completely abandoning its nuclear program and only cares about gaining more access to funds to continue all of its nefarious activities, Ros-Lehtinen said. This is just a stalling tactic by the Iranian regime, and the Obama administration and P5+1 have fallen for it hook, line and sinker. There is no justification for offering an extension to the regime, in exchange for the status quo from Iran and its promise to continue with the negotiations. The regime never had any intention of reaching an agreement, and Rouhani has again bought Iran the time, and more importantly the sanctions relief it needs, to improve its economy and advance its nuclear program. This extension is nothing but folly, and the administration has failed to understand that the objective is to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon and to dismantle and destroy its nuclear infrastructure, not simply pushing back its breakout time.

The Obama administration should realize that the Iranians are not serious about these talks and should abandon the negotiations and with the Republicans in control of both the House and Senate come January, its time that we roll up our sleeves and get to work to pass new sanctions on the Iranian regime, Ros-Lehtinen added.