America Held Hostage by the Iran Nuclear Deal

In the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, April 28th, the Obama Administration decided to hold the vital needs of the American military hostage in order to side with the nuclear ambitions of the world’s number-one state sponsor of terrorism, Iran.

It is now clear that a glaring side effect of the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran is that it incentivizes Iran to keep overproducing heavy water, a critical component in the production of weapons-grade plutonium. Instead of pacing firm limits on production, coupled with heavy consequences, the Obama Administration’s bright idea is to use taxpayer money to subsidize Iran’s nuclear program by purchasing its excess heavy water.

This is a grotesque misuse of taxpayer dollars, money that should be utilized to help restore the training and weapons systems that our men and women in uniform so desperately need. Furthermore, it creates a new U.S.-approved heavy water marketplace that will give Iran a crystal-clear reason to continue overproducing.

Given all of these facts, my colleague Representative Franks and I thought it appropriate and necessary to offer amendments to the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act expressly prohibiting Department of Defense or Department of Energy funds from being used to purchase heavy water from Iran.

As soon as our amendments became known, the White House leapt into action on behalf of Iran. The Obama Administration successfully coerced the Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee to vow to vote against the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act unless our amendments were withdrawn. The Obama Administration also worked to stop a similar effort by Senator Tom Cotton that added purchase prohibition language to the 2017 Energy & Water Appropriations Act.

Incredibly, the Democrats have even gone so far as to threaten that our amendments to prohibit the use of funds to purchase heavy water from Iran “could mean an end to cooperation on passing spending bills.” This stubborn refusal — make no mistake — is what is wrong with American politics today.

The fact that this Administration is hell-bent on safeguarding the Iran nuclear agreement at any cost — even if it means shutting down the federal government and denying weapons and equipment to our men and women overseas — should make us all wary of the future under leadership that will ignore obvious facts to accomplish a political agenda.

The Administration’s argument that the U.S. must assist Iran in offloading its overproduced heavy water is categorically false. There are other options for Iran to dispose of its heavy water. Iran could cease production, dilute, or transfer it. In fact, Iran should be required to do so to comply with its obligations under the nuclear agreement.

Additionally, the Administration has not revealed how it is going to implement these purchases, since the nuclear deal does permit Iran direct or indirect access to the U.S. dollar or the U.S. financial system. Any purchase by the U.S. of heavy water from Iran would presumably be cone in U.S. dollars or through a mechanism involving a U.S. dollar conversion. This is yet another dangerous concession that favors Iran and brings no benefit to American interests or security. It only hinders our nation’s ability to enforce sanctions against the leading state sponsor of terrorism and gross human rights violator.

The nuclear sanctions do permit countries (including the U.S.) to exchange food or medicinal supplies for the heavy water. But the White House’s response to Congress indicates that they don’t respect the restrictions of the existing Iran nuclear agreement nor Congress’s Constitutional authority.

There is no legitimate reason why we should incentivize Iran to overproduce heavy water and continue to perfect an essential element of its nuclear program — one that will be completely unrestricted after the Iran nuclear agreement provisions sunset in 2030. Under this logic, we are paying Iran for being in violation of the nuclear agreement and allowing them to increase their influence in the decades ahead.

This President needs to recognize that Iran has no intention of upholding this deal, as it continues to elicit concessions that neither America nor the safety of the free world can afford.

Congressman Doug Lamborn serves on the House Armed Services Committee, including subcommittees on Strategic Forces and Emerging Threats and Capabilities. He represents Colorado’s fifth district.