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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Senate colleagues introduced legislation to prohibit the Biden Administration from waiving congressionally-mandated sanctions that prohibit activities that enhance Iran’s civil nuclear program, originally issued under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 
 
Last month, the Biden Administration notified Congress it was giving Iran and its international partners — including Russia — a waiver for seven civil nuclear activities, which Iran uses to build its nuclear weapons program. This week, the Biden Administration confirmed that the waivers will allow Russia to conduct projects with Iran valued at $10 billion.
 
Rubio and Cruz were joined in introducing the bill by Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Braun (R-IN), Rick Scott (R-FL), John Hoeven (R-ND), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Jim Inhofe (R-OK). 
 
Rubio is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 
 
“The Biden Administration is so desperate to cut a deal with the regime in Tehran they are willing to waive sanctions on Russia in order to guarantee Putin’s help securing the agreement,” Rubio said. “This deal would do nothing to stop the Ayatollah from acquiring nuclear weapons and would simultaneously allow revenue to flow back into Vladimir Putin’s war machine, all while benefiting the Maduro narco-regime. This lunacy is dangerous and threatens our national security interests.” 
 
 “The Biden Administration is dismantling sanctions and is aching to secure a new agreement with the Iranian regime that is even weaker than the original catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal. The Biden administration is so committed to their deal that they are willing to make Iran a nuclear client for Putin, including work that amounts to a $10 billion subsidy for his war machine,” Cruz said. “That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to stop the Biden administration from issuing civil-nuclear waivers allowing Russia to build up Iran’s nuclear program. The Ayatollah exploits these civil nuclear waivers to build up Iran’s nuclear program with the express intention of eventually developing nuclear weapons to inflict destruction on America and our allies. When he chants ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America,’ he means it. President Trump rightly ended these waivers, and now the Biden administration is resurrecting them. It’s unconscionable, and Congress must put a stop to it.”