Sen. Cruz to President Trump: Go Back to Steadily Increasing Pressure on the Iranian Regime and Tear up the Catastrophic Obama-Iran Nuclear Deal
Calls for immediate end to the civil-nuclear waivers
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today issued the following statement urging the Trump administration to increase pressure against Iran. The statement follows the administration's decision to establish a new financial mechanism to facilitate trade with Iran:
"I welcome the Trump administration's decision to finalize the rule recognizing Iran as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern, which implements legislation I have introduced.
"Nevertheless I am deeply concerned about the broader direction of the administration's maximum pressure campaign, including today's decision to establish a new, intricate, and untested financial mechanism to facilitate trade with Iran, beyond the critically important and already existing humanitarian exemptions the U.S. has established to ensure the Iranian people are shielded from our sanctions against the Ayatollahs.
"I urge the president to go back to steadily increasing pressure on the Iranian regime and to finally tear up the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal. Importantly, the administration should immediately end the civil nuclear waivers from the deal that have allowed Iran to continue building up its nuclear program, including at Fordow, a nuclear bunker they dug into the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear weapons."
In December, Sen. Cruz introduced the Blocking Iranian Illicit Finance Act, which seeks to counter the Iranian regime's money laundering and financing of terrorism, protect the global financial system from Iranian illicit finance, and impose maximum financial pressure on Iran.
In August, Sen. Cruz sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, urging him to take all necessary steps to ensure the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) disconnects the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and all other designated Iranian financial institutions.
###
