Congressmen call for sanctions against Russia

Foreign Affairs Committee urges Obama to consider financial measures to prevent S-300 missile sale to Iran

By JTA 3 May 2015, 2:31 pm 3

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House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Edward Royce with Secretary of State John Kerry. (AP/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON – Leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged US President Barack Obama to consider using sanctions to stop Russia’s planned delivery of missiles to Iran.

Republican Representative Ed Royce from California, the committee chairman, and Democrat from New York Representative Eliot Engel, the committee’s ranking member, sent a letter to Obama concerning the proposed delivery of the S-300 surface to air missile system to Iran.

“If completed, the transfer of this sophisticated weapons system would significantly bolster Iran’s military capabilities and introduce new obstacles to our ability to eliminate the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon,” the legislators wrote.

While the UN Security Council does not prohibit the transfer of this weapons system to Iran, the Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act and the Iran Sanctions Act do give Obama authority to sanction countries deemed to be aiding Iran’s efforts to acquire weapons, according to the congressmen.

“We are concerned that without such a determination, your recent comments could be interpreted as the United States acquiescing to this transfer,” they wrote.