The State Department failed to submit a key report on Iran’s nuclear program on time, a lawmaker charged Thursday, in a move that hinders Washington’s ability to apply sanctions to those who would do the U.S. harm.
While the department on Thursday released its annual report on human rights that said there’s been no substantial improvement in the situation in Iran since President Hassan Rouhani was elected in 2013, the State Department remains under fire for failing to produce another report required by law every six months: a list of foreign companies that have assisted Iran’s nuclear program, which forms the basis for U.S. sanctions.
RELATED: Kerry stresses U.S. ‘humility’ as he cites Iran, Cuba as serial human rights abusers
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., on Thursday wrote Secretary of State John Kerry demanding answers for why that report is late. In the letter, Royce noted that the Government Accountability Office, in a report requested by the committee, found that the department had provided only six of 18 required reports since 2006, and was three years behind on the information needed to impose sanctions.
“Delayed implementation has real consequences — amounting to de facto sanctions relief,” Royce wrote.
“As a result of the department’s successive delays, only 82 individuals were sanctioned from 2006 to May 2015, while sanctions were imposed on average 28 months after the end of the relevant reporting period.
“Failure to vigorously impose sanctions,” he continued, “against those aiding in the nonproliferation efforts of Iran, North Korea and Syria undermines U.S. efforts to end these rogue regime’s dangerous [weapons of mass destruction] and missile programs.”
