Graves: President Obama continues to give in to Iran

(From Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves)

The security of the United States and the world are of paramount importance to me, which is why I am so concerned about the current negotiations over Iran's nuclear development program.

Since 2002, when the world discovered that Iran was developing a secret nuclear program at multiple sites, the United States has rightly held that we would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. In the years since that discovery, Iran has continued to violate international agreements, has hidden nuclear sites from inspectors, and has continued its march towards becoming a nuclear state. Considering the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, was recently leading a crowd in a "death to America" chant, we should have extreme suspicion about the aims of any nuclear program Iran is operating.

Unfortunately, President Obama continues to give into Iran and its demands during negotiations. As the most powerful nation in the world, we should be demanding concessions from Iran, not the other way around. Just as bad, the Administration has signaled that it will not seek Congressional approval of its agreement, and will instead claim executive authority to finalize the deal. This deal could do serious harm to the future of the Middle East and to the security of the United States and our allies, particularly Israel.

In order to ensure Israel has the support it needs from America, I recently cosponsored the US-Israel Anti-Tunnel Defense Cooperation Act. Israel is our closest ally in the Middle East, but every day it lives under the threat of terrorist attacks launched from underground tunnels. This bill will authorize research and development of an anti-tunneling defense system in order to enable Israel to protect itself from terrorist attacks.



We should expect more out of our leaders in the effort to protect Israel and deal with rogue states that sponsor terrorism like Iran. As your representative, I will continue to push for more serious actions to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and will always stand with our allies to protect our mutual interests.