West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. March 30, 2022
Democrat senator Joe Manchin says removing the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from the US terrorism list in hopes of energy supplies from Iran is “short-sighted”.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, the West Virginia Senator expressed concerns about the ongoing nuclear negotiations between the Biden administration and the Islamic Republic and urged maintaining the current sanctions and refraining from delisting the IRGC.
Already, 49 Republican Senators have called on Biden not to make concessions to Iran.
Manchin, who also serves as the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he is particularly worried that the US is removing the IRGC from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list “in the hopes that trade relations can be re-established with Iran to assist with our energy crisis”.
“Let me be clear. The IRGC is a terrorist organization,” Manchin noted, adding, “We must not be short-sighted in the use of sanctions relief to mitigate our present energy challenges”.
He called on the administration “to invest in an all-of-the-above domestic energy policy to bolster our national security and our ability to help our allies and partners abroad”.
He said Washington should not reward Iran with sanctions relief before Tehran demonstrates verifiable efforts towards “curbing their malign influence holistically, including their nuclear ambitions, terrorism financing, and dual-use weapons development”.
He also requested a detailed briefing on the status of the Vienna talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and called on the administration to consult with Congress on critical foreign policy decisions.