House Intelligence Committee chair suggests that Congress should implement a travel ban on Iran amid ongoing nuclear talks with the Islamic country.
During an interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Republican Ohio Rep. Mike Turner said that he would only support a broader diplomatic deal and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran if it prevented the latter country’s nuclear program.
“But the terms of the deal are absolutely important, because you know, last time we had an insufficient inspection regime, we had terms that were critical that expired,” Turner told host Margaret Brennan.
“In this instance, they appear to be careening toward a deal that would be informal, not subject to congressional oversight, because we wouldn’t know all the terms,” he added.
Then-President Donald Trump previously withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018, but President Joe Biden has since revived talks to reach another nuclear deal with Iran.
Brennan then asked if Congress should implement a travel ban on Iran, to which Turner responded that it should be under consideration.
“I think it’s, it’s — it should be certainly considered,” Turner said. “I think the — I know you’re going to have coming up, one of the family members of one of the detainees, and I think her message is incredibly important; people should not be going to Iran.”
This comes after the Biden administration reached a tentative agreement with Iran last week that would see the release of five Americans who were detained as well as an unknown number of Iranian prisoners who were being held in the U.S.
“My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare and the nightmare that their families have experienced,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in Washington at the time.
When asked about the tentative agreement, Turner expressed his support and said that lawmakers want the Biden administration “to work diligently to bring American home — Americans home, whether Iran or Russia or elsewhere, and our hearts certainly go out to them.”
“But in this instance, the administration is signaling that this is part of a broader deal concerning Iran’s enrichment program, and if that becomes a secret deal, then that’s obviously a great concern to Congress,” he added.
