Sen. Ted Cruz touted the Trump administration’s move to try to “snapback” international sanctions against Iran despite pushback from some members of the United Nations Security Council.
Cruz was one of several high-profile speakers at the virtual summit on Friday hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a leading dissident group that advocates for regime change in Iran. The summit coincided with this week’s opening of the 75th session of the U.N. General Assembly.
The event also comes on the eve of the U.S. “snapback” of sanctions against Iran, which the Trump administration said will go into effect at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Despite some international backlash from the move, Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said that it is a necessary step in countering Iranian aggression and preventing Iran, which has consistently violated the initial strictures of the nuclear deal, from achieving atomic weaponry.
“It is an absolute necessity that we hold the officials of the Iranian regime accountable for their torture, their human rights abuses, and their crimes against humanity,” Cruz said at the summit.
The United States decided to invoke the snapback mechanism after the U.N. Security Council failed to extend an arms embargo against the country that is set to expire in October. The snapback mechanism is part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which stipulates that nations party to the treaty can retrigger the sanctions if Iran substantially violates the terms of the deal.
The move is controversial because President Trump pulled the U.S. from the nuclear deal in 2018. Countries such as Russia and China have railed against the snapback effort given the U.S. departure from the pact but said Cruz was glad that the U.S. decided to forge ahead despite the backlash.
“I’m thankful that the Trump administration has rightfully invoked the snapback mechanism,” the senator said. “Iran’s tyrannical and evil regime continues to finance and export terror, endangering the lives of Americans and the national security of both us and our allies. By using our existing authority to invoke the snapback sanctions mechanism, we have taken a necessary step to counter Iran’s aggression, to deny the regime resources, and to slow significantly the development and deployment of Iran’s nuclear program.”
“If we did not invoke these sanctions, the U.N.’s arms embargo would expire and allow China to start selling billions of dollars of weapons to the ayatollah,” he added.
During his speech, Cruz compared the Iranian regime, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, to the former Soviet Union.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s abysmal human rights record is inextricably tied to its nuclear ambitions. Like the Soviets in the 20th century, the mullahs not only violently oppress their own people, but they also seek to project that oppression against free peoples around the world, first and foremost against the United States and our allies,” Cruz said.
It is unclear how European allies, who abstained from supporting the snapback of sanctions against Iran, will react to the move going forward, but Elliott Abrams, U.S. special representative for Iran, said this week that after the snapback goes into effect, foreign nations such as Russia and China that decide to sign weapons deals with Iran will face the “full force” of U.S. sanctions.
Several other current and former lawmakers and policy officials addressed Friday’s virtual gathering, including Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri echoed Cruz’s remarks about the power of sanctions and said that sanctions against the regime are “the best tool we have to hold Iran accountable.”
“Strengthening sanctions on Iran is an appropriate response to Iran’s continued aggression,” Blunt said.
He said that while it is unfortunate to see the economic impact that sanctions have had on the people of Iran, the sanctions are in place because of the actions of the Iranian government.
“They pay that price because their government does behave badly and behaves badly toward them,” he said.
James Jones, a retired Marine Corps general who served as former President Barack Obama’s first national security adviser, highlighted the need for the international community to isolate the Iranian regime and the leaders of other undemocratic regimes.
“The world community is uniting, but we still must do more,” Jones said. “I believe that there should be more isolation of the leaders of those countries, especially the Iranian leaders. Internationally, they should not be welcome in organizations that are free and democratic as long as they continue their crimes against humanity.”
The event was hosted by the NCRI, and the group’s leader, Maryam Rajavi, spoke to the gathering from NCRI headquarters in Albania. She also encouraged the U.S. snapback of sanctions against Iran and pointed out that Iran uses its revenue to fund terrorism in other countries.
“Boycott the clerical regime,” she said. “Every single dollar given to the regime will turn into a bullet that is fired into the hearts of youths in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Our people do not want uranium enrichment plants. Neither do they want a ballistic missiles program or the regime’s criminal wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon.”
Other speakers at Friday’s event included Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and others.
