Video of Congressman Sherman in Action
Washington, DC – Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, commended the FBI and DEA for disrupting an Iranian plot to commit terrorism inside the United States. The alleged plan, directed by elements of the Iranian regime, was to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States and to bomb the embassies of Saudi Arabia and Israel in Washington, DC.
“It’s not enough to punish the operatives; we must hold the Iranian government accountable,” said Congressman Sherman. “We should not be surprised by the audacity of this assassination and terrorist plot. The mullah regime in Tehran has been committed to terrorism as state policy ever since the inception of the Islamic Republic.”
“I commend our law enforcement and intelligence agencies for stopping this Iranian terrorist plot,” continued Sherman. “Now, we must act together to hold the Iranian regime accountable by fully enforcing all sanctions. Otherwise, we may embolden Iran in its future attempts to commit terrorism on American soil.”
The individuals involved in this plot are reportedly connected to the Qods Force, a division of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that carries out operations outside Iran. The money in support of the plot had been transferred through a bank in New York, according to the New York Times.
“We must fully enforce the tough sanctions passed by Congress thus far and continue to enact tougher sanctions to weaken Iran economically and diplomatically, and we must act now,” said Sherman. “The fact that Iranian regime transferred money for this operation through a bank in New York means that the Treasury Department needs to accelerate its enforcement of tough financial measures against Tehran and its global terrorist network. The threat is clearly on American soil – more than ever before.”
As a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Sherman has pressed several administrations of both parties over the years to get tougher with Tehran on the enforcement of sanctions – particularly in Iran’s energy sector.
In April of this year, Sherman reintroduced the Stop Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program Act, the strongest Iran sanctions bill ever introduced. The bill’s provisions include a title targeting the IRGC and its business partners for greater sanctions.
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