Republicans on Thursday seized on Secretary of State John Kerry’s admission that some of the money from lifting sanction on Iran would likely end up in the hands of terrorists, and said it shows the Iran nuclear agreement was a bad idea.
“Secretary Kerry admitted what we suspected all along,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Republicans and Democrats opposed the Iran nuclear deal, which lifted more than $100 billion in sanctions, because Iran is the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the region and they believed the money would be spent to ramp up terrorist activities.
“This is exactly why a bipartisan majority in the House voted to reject the nuclear deal,” a statement from Ryan’s office said. “Sanctions should only be lifted only when Iran ceases its litany of illicit activities and ends its support for terrorism. Until that day comes, we should not be complicit in fueling a regime with a long history of hostility toward the U.S. and our allies.”
The agreement lifted sanctions in exchange for Iran reducing its nuclear program. But critics say it did not go far enough in preventing Iran from producing a nuclear weapon and did nothing to address the country’s involvement in terrorism.
On Thursday, Kerry told CNBC that some of the money freed up by the agreement would end up in the hands of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, “or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists.”
For the RNC, the Kerry admission gave the party an opportunity to attack former secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who backed the deal.
“Hillary Clinton should explain why she thinks an agreement that helps arm terrorists is such a diplomatic coup, especially when it makes America and our allies like Israel less safe,” Priebus said. “And given that this agreement never ultimately prevents Iran from obtaining an atomic bomb, Hillary Clinton’s defense of this deal is another reminder of the failed foreign policy she would continue if elected.”
