Senate Support Grows for Hagerty Bill to Block Iran Sanctions Relief

April 14, 2021

WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty’s (R-TN) Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act of 2021 (S. 488), a bill that would enable Congress to vote to approve—or block—any Executive Branch proposal to lift sanctions against the Iranian regime, has secured its 34th co-sponsor. This occurs as the Biden Administration announced last week that it is prepared to lift “sanctions that are inconsistent” with the flawed Iran nuclear deal in order to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

“So far 34 Senators—enough lawmakers to block the Iran deal if President Biden actually followed the U.S. Constitution and submitted the JCPOA as a treaty to the Senate—now support my legislation to require an up-or-down vote on any future sanctions relief to Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime,” Senator Hagerty said. “If the Biden Administration wants an Iran policy that can enjoy bipartisan support and survive changes in presidential administrations, then it needs to stop bending over backwards to give away hard-won economic and financial leverage and instead use this leverage to end the Iranian regime’s nuclear proliferation, ballistic missile threats, terrorism, and regional aggression.”

House Foreign Affairs Ranking Republican Michael McCaul last month introduced companion legislation that 43 House Members so far have co-sponsored.

Hagerty is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance.