Washington D.C. – U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), along with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), led a group of 36 Republican lawmakers in writing a letter to President Joe Biden, expressing strong criticism of his administration’s handling of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The letter accuses the Biden-Harris administration of adopting policies that have emboldened Iran, allowing the country to advance its nuclear program and escalate its influence in the Middle East.
The lawmakers argue that the administration’s approach, which they describe as “appeasement,” has led to Iran’s nuclear program advancing toward a dangerous threshold. They emphasize that the administration has permitted Iranian-backed militias to attack U.S. troops over 180 times, while responding in kind only 11 times. Additionally, they criticize the administration’s decisions to remove the Houthi rebel group from the list of designated terrorist organizations and restore funding to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), an agency they claim supports Hamas. The letter claims these actions weakened U.S. allies and emboldened Iran’s proxies in the region, particularly highlighting the impact on Israel’s ability to counter Iran.
The letter also references a “weekslong, partial arms embargo” imposed on Israel during a time of conflict with Iranian-backed forces, which the lawmakers believe undermined Israel’s capacity to defend itself and respond to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program.
The letter is co-signed by a number of Republican senators, including Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), as well as House members such as Chris Smith (N.J.-04), Dan Crenshaw (Texas-02), and Ashley Hinson (Iowa-01), among others. Together, the lawmakers call for a tougher stance against Iran and its regional proxies in order to mitigate the nuclear threat and restore stability in the Middle East.
