In 62-33 Vote, Senate Sends Biden Administration Bipartisan Message on Iran Policy

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 62-33 to pass a motion calling for any nuclear agreement with Iran to address the regime’s other malign behavior, including its ballistic missiles and terror sponsorship, and not to lift the terror designation on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Fifteen Democrats and one independent joined most Republicans in voting for the motion by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). One critic of the Iranian regime described the result as a “devastating bipartisan rejection” of the Biden administration’s Iran policy.

Lankford’s measure is a “motion to instruct” House and Senate conferees considering long-stalled China competition legislation, to require any agreement negotiated with Iran to address Chinese purchases of Iranian oil in violation of sanctions.

But it goes further, targeting two specific areas in a way that could complicate the administration’s efforts to return both the U.S. and Iran to compliance with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The measure calls for the regime’s “destabilizing activities,” such as its missiles program and terrorism, to be addressed in any deal; and it bars any reversal of the Trump administration’s 2019 designation of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).