Sen. Cruz Vows To Hold Authorization & Block State Department Nominees If UN Lifts Iran Sanctions Before Congress Votes

As reported here over the past few days, It was president Obama's intention to have the UN Security Council approve the removal of the sanctions per the schedule in the deal, as early as next week, prior Congress voting the deal up or down. On Thursday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent a letter to the president warning him of his intention to hold reauthorizing legislation and block all nominees for the U.S. State Department unless the President provides written assurances that he will block any U.N. Security Council resolution approving the Iranian nuclear deal until the legislative timeline for Congressional review has run its course.

At the same time Cruz was sending his letter U.N. Ambassador Rice was circulating a draft UN Security Council resolution was circulated by the United States yesterday. The resolution would nuclear agreement effectively lifting the sanctions imposed by the U.N. per the deal.. The resolution would facilitate any one of the P5+1 partners to to use their security council veto to reinstate sanctions against Iran if it is seen to be violating the deal.

With the Security Council lifting the sanctions (the resolution will most certainly pass) the congressional vote becomes much less meaningful. While some of the sanctions were imposed by the United States and can only be lifted by congress, the U.N. Security Council imposed many of the most damaging ones, and only the Council can lift those sanctions. But with veto power the US can block any deal.

Going around congress a pre-planned part of the crap sandwich known as the P5+ to help its passage and to to make the congressional vote meaningless if congress dares to think on its own.

Cruz however is not going along with the plan. As he wrote in his letter:

“Nowhere does the Annex [of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)] mention the United States Congress or recognize mandatory Congressional review under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015,” wrote Sen. Cruz. “By virtue of the Congressional review mechanism you agreed to, implementation of a deal cannot go into effect until Congress receives all necessary documentation, evaluates the deal, and renders a judgment. As the JCPOA is written, it seems your Administration intended all along to circumvent this domestic review by moving the agreement to the UN Security Council before the mandatory 60-day review period ends, thus adopting an agreement without Congressional consent. That Samantha Power has already introduced a draft resolution to the Security Council portrays an offensive level of disrespect for the American people and their elected representatives in Congress.”

Good luck Senator!

The full Cruz letter is embedded below:

Cruz letter by Jeffrey Dunetz