US Return to JCPOA Would Require Congressional Review, Republican Lawmakers Say
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the State Department must submit to Congress any new deal reached with Iran over its nuclear commitments and allow lawmakers to “review and assess” it. The lawmakers said a potential U.S. return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would “clearly” constitute a new deal and would require congressional review under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015.
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“It is impossible to resume mutual compliance with the JCPOA as written and considered by Congress six years ago as though it were the continuation of the same agreement” because “Iran’s noncompliance has changed the deal itself,” the lawmakers, led by the committee’s lead Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken June 14. “Given these material changes in the strategic context, any prospective agreement related to the nuclear program of Iran that commits the United States to action clearly constitutes a new agreement that must be transmitted to Congress.”
Although some Republican lawmakers are strongly opposed to the U.S. rejoining the JCPOA (see 2105120038), experts and some U.S. officials are hopeful a return could happen this year (see 2105270025), which would likely reverse a range of U.S. sanctions against Iran.