Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz
US senator Ted Cruz said Wednesday that the Biden administration wants to revive the nuclear deal with Iran so desperately that they are willing to concede anything.
The Texas Republican described the Islamic Republic’s “outrageous demands” as the reason the negotiations to restore the deal have stalled.
He said that “the ayatollahs’ demands are so extreme and so radical” adding that the Biden White House desperately wants a deal at almost any price, “even if it jeopardizes the safety and security of Israel, and even if it jeopardizes the safety and security of the United States".
"I forced a vote on the Senate floor, demanding that terrorism sanctions remain in place on the IRGC, and we won an overwhelming bipartisan victory. The vast majority of Senators, both Republicans and Democrats, voted for my amendment, insisting sanctions remain. I hope that stalls this deal”, he said.
Cruz noted, “The Biden administration had Russia negotiate the deal, Russia as our enemy, Iran as our enemy, and our enemies are sitting at a table together negotiating a deal that hurts America and hurts Israel”.
The eighth round of talks in Vienna which began in late December, came to an abrupt pause in mid-March as major stumbling blocks between Tehran and Washington -- which only negotiates indirectly through the European coordinator of the talks -- remained unresolved.
A major disagreement reportedly remains the US listing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ while Iran has also refused to drop calls for retribution for the US killing IRGC general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.