A year ago, when Secretary of State John Kerry and Javad Zarif unveiled their flawed “nuclear deal,” I opposed it. Today it remains apparent that Iran, which the State Department calls “the foremost state sponsor of terrorism,” cannot be trusted.
Since the deal, Iran has repeatedly tested nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in defiance of international law, boosted its support for Hezbollah, illegally imprisoned American citizens, and continued efforts to illicitly buy nuclear and missile technology. To reverse the deal’s damage, Congress should confront Iran’s growing threats to the U.S. and Israel.
 Under the deal, the administration released over $100 billion in frozen assets to Iran. This is alarming because Iranian terrorism has killed more Americans than ISIS has.
 In October 1983, Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists killed 241 American servicemen in the Beirut Marine barracks bombing. I attended church with Marine Sergeant Johnny Phillips of Wilmette, one of the 11 citizens of Illinois murdered by Iran that day.
 Iran flooded Iraq with destructive roadside bombs that killed and maimed American troops in over 800 incidents. In 2007, an Iranian bomb critically injured Army Major Jim Hochstetler of central Illinois, but Jim—a real American hero—returned to combat after facial reconstructive surgery.
 I don’t want another American citizen to be harmed by Iran. But the alarming fact is the nuclear deal gives Tehran many billions more in resources to support terrorism as well as terror-sponsoring governments like Syria’s Assad regime.
 Worse, the nuclear deal paves Iran’s path to eventually getting nuclear weapons.
 In 2011 and 2012, the Senate unanimously passed two laws that I co-authored with Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to impose the harshest-ever financial sanctions on Iran.
 The goal of Menendez-Kirk sanctions was to end Iran’s nuclear program. But the administration’s nuclear deal traded away the leverage of sanctions without any promise by Iran to end its nuclear program.
 Rather, the agreement allows Iran to keep vast nuclear capabilities that will only grow over time. The modest limits on Iran’s potential for nuclear weapons disappears in about a decade—and much sooner, if Iran cheats.
 Iran has stonewalled efforts by inspectors to further investigate undeclared nuclear activities at a top-secret Iranian military base.
 Yet, despite mounting evidence of Iranian nuclear and missile violations, as well as Tehran’s increased support for terrorism and militancy, the White House refuses to hold Iran fully accountable.
 If the administration won’t act, Congress should.
 This week, the House of Representatives passed the Iran Accountability Act, legislation authored by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that draws heavily on bills that Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and I authored to impose new sanctions on Iran’s missile and terrorism activities. The Senate should also vote on similar measures when we return in September.
 The administration’s dangerously flawed and unbalanced nuclear deal does nothing to hide the fact that Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime poses a long-term threat to the U.S. and Israel. I will fight just as hard to keep America safe from Iran’s threat as I have to oppose this disastrous nuclear deal.

Source: The Southern, 17 July 2016