Washington- A Republican senator is trying to block the Obama administration from buying nuclear materials from Iran.
Conservative members of Congress have decried the White House’s dangerous purchase. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) even filed an amendment to halt the process.
Sen. Cotton filed an amendment this week to an energy and water appropriations bill that would bar the government from using federal funds to buy Iran’s heavy water, which can be used in nuclear reactors.
“It seems the president will go to any lengths to protect his nuclear deal,” Cotton said in a statement. “We’ve given the terror-sponsoring Iranian regime enough concessions at the risk of our security; we should not further subsidize its enrichment activity by making repeated purchases of this material.”
The measure is not scheduled to come up for a vote, and it is unclear whether it will hit the Senate floor before lawmakers take up the underlying appropriations bill on Wednesday.
Yet the move by Cotton underscores the lingering anger over the Obama administration’s dealings with Iran following President Obama’s nuclear pact with the country.
On Friday, the Energy Department announced it would spend roughly $8.6 million to buy 32 tons of heavy water from Iran, which signaled that other countries should feel free to follow suit.
The department has said that the heavy water — which can be used as a coolant for some nuclear activities but also has other applications — will be resold to research and other organizations in the United States.
The announced purchase came as Iran was staring down a July deadline to reduce its stockpile of the material under the international nuclear accord, and analysts worried it would not meet its obligation. The nuclear pact, which was implemented earlier this year, lifts sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its ability to build a nuclear weapon.
At the White House Tuesday morning, Press Secretary Josh Earnest defended the Obama administration’s decision to buy heavy water – material used for nuclear production – from Iran.
“It’s not radioactive,” he said. “It doesn’t pose a public health concern. It is valuable.”
More generally, he added, the purchase is “consistent with Iran fulfilling their obligations” under the nuclear agreement
“Part of the prescribed steps that they had to take was to reduce their nuclear stockpile, and that involved reducing their technological nuclear capabilities,” he added.
The administration has claimed the purchase will not be a permanent arrangement. 
“I know of no intention to keep doing this on a recurring basis,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday.

Source: The Hill, Town Hall, 26 APRIL 2016