It came to EMET’s attention yesterday via a Twitter thred that wholesale concessions, led by Robert Malley, are being made in Vienna to negotiators representing the Islamic Republic of Iran. These concessions have nothing to do with the JCPOA and will lift a slew of critically important sanctions on 112 of some of the regime’s worst terrorists and thugs, including leading officials in the IRGC, as well as on the regime itself.  It was also leaked that the administration plans to circumvent Congress, arguing that this is just returning to the JCPOA, and that they are discussing offering a $7 billion signing bonus in exchange for American hostages. 

EMET implores readers to contact your senators TODAY and urge them to stop this deal immediately. Find your senators here.  

Points you may wish to convey: 

• Among those whose sanctions are about to be lifted are Mohsen Rezaei and Ali Akbar Velayati, who were responsible for the 1994 bombing of the AMIA, a Jewish communal institution in Argentina in which 85 people were killed and hundreds were injured. 

• Among those whose sanctions will be lifted is also Brig. Gen. Hussein Deghan, who led the IRGC forces in Lebanon and has been tied to the 1983 Beirut bombings which killed 241 US Marines, asleep in their barracks. 

• These terrorists have the blood on their hands of hundreds, if not thousands, of American marines, Argentinian Jews, Iranian dissidents and others. For them to be able to engage in financial transactions and travel the globe with total impunity is simply beyond immoral. 

• If left unstopped, these negotiations will forever compromise our national security interests as well as those of our friends and allies in the region, and the world.  

•  This deal constitutes nothing short of an arms control treaty and must be brought before Congress for a free and open public debate, which requires 2/3 of the Senate to ratify it. If it is not presented before Congress, it is only because the negotiators realize that it is simply too weak for our American legislators to review it. 

This comes from Gabriel Noronha, a former high ranking State Department Official, who said that his “former State Department, National Security Council and European Union Colleagues are so concerned with the concessions being made by Robert Malley in Vienna that they’ve allowed me to publish some of the details of the coming deal in the hopes that Congress will act to stop this capitulation.” 

Noronha tweeted that his former colleagues have warned him, “what’s happening in Vienna is a total disaster. The entire negotiations have been filtered and ‘essentially run’ by Russian diplomat Mikhail Ulanov.” He added, “The deal being negotiated in Vienna is dangerous to our national security, it is illegal, and in no way serves U.S. national security interests in either the long or the short term.” The tweets can be read here. 

Sanctions would also be lifted on major assets unrelated to the Iranian nuclear deal, such as the Mostazafan bonyad – essentially an untaxed conglomerate run by the Iranian regime – which was responsible for illegal confiscation of Jewish property after the 1979 revolution. 

State department lawyers are apparently working on “very creative” ways to circumvent Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (INARA), which stipulates that Congress has a right to review any nuclear agreement reached with Iran. Additionally, the US may be set to release billions of dollars currently frozen in South Korean banks next week in exchange for the release of US hostages. 

As a result of the 2015 JCPOA, a federal law was passed entitled, “The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015,” which mandates that the administration must submit before Congress for evaluation any deal that has been brokered with Iran, as well as all related documents and side deals. It is up to our elected officials in Congress to decide whether or not this deal would warrant implementation, and whether in the long run, this will serve or hinder our national security interests. 

EMET believes this deal constitutes nothing short of an arms control treaty and must be brought before Congress for a free and open public debate, which requires two-thirds of the Senate to ratify it. If it is not presented before Congress, it is only because the negotiators realize that it is simply too weak for our American legislators to review it. 

If you do not know your senators’ or representative’s number, please dial (202) 224-3121.