Calling nuclear talks with Iran a “vanity project” for President Barack Obama, U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) has called for the end of negotiations and the return of “crippling economic sanctions” against the Middle East nation.
Roskam’s comments came after negotiators from the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany pushed back the timeline for a deal with Iran over its nuclear capabilities. The new deadline for creating a political framework agreement was extended four months to March 1, 2015. The new deadline for a final agreement is July 1, 2015.
Roskam, co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, pointed his angst directly at Obama and his administration, calling their year-long negotiations “a complete failure.”
“Iran’s economy is steadily rebounding thanks to billions in economic sanctions relief, as investors and companies worldwide prepare to re-enter the Iranian market,” Roskam said. “Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program is moving forward undeterred as its centrifuges continue to spin and international inspectors are still routinely denied access to its most critical nuclear and military facilities. Extending these ill-conceived negotiations will only buy the mullahs more time to develop a nuclear weapons capability.”
The crux of the negotiations is how many centrifuges Iran is allowed and how much uranium it can enrich for energy production.
“We must redouble our commitment to stopping—not containing—Iran’s dangerous quest for nuclear weapons,” Roskam said. “This vanity project is a desperate attempt by President Obama to find a foreign policy legacy, but it runs a tremendous risk to the United States and the world. It’s time we stop this nonsensical process and reinstate the crippling economic sanctions that brought the radical Iranian regime to the negotiating table in the first place.”