EXCLUSIVE — Democrat Senator Bob Menendez: ‘Fantasy’ of Returning to Iran Deal ‘Unrealistic, Unproductive’

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey and chairman of the Senate Foreign Rel
Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty
Joshua Klein

The “fantasy” of returning to the Obama-led nuclear deal with Iran is both “unrealistic” and “unproductive,” according to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) who slammed the Islamic theocracy for oppressing its citizens, terrorizing countries, and undermining the “stability of the entire region,” while claiming the “overwhelming majority of Iranians have always opposed the violent tactics, extrajudicial killings and nuclear ambitions of the leaders in Tehran.”

In a prerecorded message provided exclusively to Breitbart News, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, senior senator from New Jersey and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered remarks which were prepared for an annual summit which was due to take place last month but was canceled due to security concerns.

In a speech aimed at attendees of the International Convention for a Free Iran, organized by Iranian opposition MEK (Mujahadin-e Khalq) and its political leader Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), at their “Ashraf-3” headquarters in Albania, Menendez blasted the Iranian regime which he accused of having, for decades, “oppressed its people, terrorized neighboring countries, and undermined the stability of the entire region.”

“While the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) carries out terrorist campaigns abroad, Iranian security forces imprison innocent civilians at home, often for no other reason than because they were peacefully protesting the regime’s brutality,” he said.

“While Iranian drones loaded with ball bearings and shrapnel hit American facilities, the regime works to stockpile nuclear material and advance its nuclear program,” he added.

Menendez also slammed the Islamic Republic, claiming it “spreads misinformation abroad” while “promot[ing] and protect[ing] human rights abusers at home.” 

In particular, he highlighted the rise of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected last year, and once held a seat on the Central Committee of the nation’s “death commissions.” 

Raisi has an extensive record of ordering mass executions of opponents of the Islamic regime and is accused of involvement in a range of egregious human rights abuses, including the execution of thousands of political prisoners, including pregnant women and teenage girls.

“This is someone who was actively involved in the 1988 massacre of as many as 30,000 political prisoners in Iran, a crime that he carried out after the supreme leader’s religious decree against the MEK, the People’s Mojahedin Organization,” Menendez said.

As “someone who directed the brutal crackdowns against peaceful protesters in both 2009 and the more recent protests of 2019,” Menendez claimed that was the reason the IRGC and the regime “promoted this killer.” 

“They promoted him to consolidate their power,” he said. “They promoted him to close off any room for Iranian citizens seeking to hold their government accountable. And they promoted him as they stepped up regional terrorism operations and their push towards a nuclear weapon.” 

Urging the need to continuously “call out continued oppression in Iran,” Menendez called it “critical” to “confront the misogynist regime’s targeting of women,” as well “support people exercising their rights by protesting against the regime’s repression.” 

“Indeed, with every building that collapses, with every water shortage, with every currency devaluation, the protest movement expands,” he noted.

Having “long hoped that any Iranian leader would truly respect and represent the will of a majority of the Iranian people,” Menendez described the Iranians as a “people who want a government that responds to their needs and respects their rights” and who would far prefer an Iran that is a responsible member of the international community.” 

He also said they deserved a country “that respects the rights of all those who live within its borders, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds and beliefs” and that is “focused on the prosperity and well being of all its people.”

Expressing his belief that the “overwhelming majority of Iranians have always opposed the violent tactics, extrajudicial killings and nuclear ambitions of the leaders in Tehran,” Menendez lamented that the Iranian regime “continues to play this nefarious role” of continuing to “support terrorism abroad and advance its nuclear capabilities at home.”

However, the New Jersey Democrat acknowledged that nuclear talks with Iran are ultimately futile.

“Unfortunately, despite severe overtures from this administration to engage in a constructive dialogue on Iran’s nuclear program, a return to the 2015 deal is not only unrealistic and unproductive, it is a fantasy,” he said.

“Iran is drawing out negotiations with delaying tactics and brinkmanship,” he added, “and Iran continues to advance its nuclear program in the face of the international community’s sanctions.” 

Calling to “send a message that we will do whatever is necessary to defend the national interest of the United States and to ensure that Iran never achieves a nuclear weapon,” Menendez concluded by saluting the “bravery of the Iranian diaspora in the face of violent reprisals and the real threats of transnational harassment and detentions.” 

“Let us come together and stand up for the Iranian people struggling for a country that respects human rights and the dignity of all people,” he said. “And let us continue to fight for the freedom and justice every Iranian deserves.”

In a statement to Breitbart News, Shahin Gobadi, a member of the Paris-based Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said the clerical regime “is at its weakest point since its inception.” 

“The Iranian economy is bankrupt and some 70% of Iranians live below the poverty line,” he said. “The IRGC — the central pillar of the religious dictatorship — failing to confront the growing popular discontent, is facing a deepening crisis from within, trepidation, and tremors.”

Gobadi also noted the “marked surge in the activities of the MEK-affiliated Resistance unit,” who over the last year “carried out more than 2,350 campaigns against repression throughout Iran to pave the way for uprisings — 85% of which have been successful.”

To “stem the tide,” Gobadi charged, the regime has “resorted to more executions and repression.” 

“Since Raisi took office, at least 521 people have been executed, an almost 100 percent increase in the number of executions with respect to the previous year,” he said.

However, Gobadi claimed, “the Iranian people are not intimidated.” 

“There is growing popular dissent from all directions and all social strata, with ‘Death to Khamenei’ and ‘Death to Raisi’ becoming prevalent slogans,” he said. 

“Over the past year, in addition to nationwide uprisings, Iranian teachers held 17 nationwide protests while retirees took to the streets across the country 15 times,” he added.

Gobadi also warned that as Tehran faces a “total impasse” and becomes more desperate, “it will react more frantically, and resort to more executions, terrorism outside Iran, sponsoring of Islamic extremism throughout the region, and intensifying its drive to acquire nuclear weapons.”

“The West should abandon any notion of appeasing the regime and adopt a firm policy by imposing tougher sanctions on the regime and recognizing the Iranian people’s right to resistance and regime change,” he said.

In addition to being the largest state sponsor of terrorism around the world, Iran has long been accused of severe human rights violations and implementation of the death penalty “at an alarming rate.”

Breitbart News previously reported that Iran was the top executioner in the Middle East last year, accounting for more than half the region’s 493 executions.

The United Nations estimates there are currently more than 85 juvenile offenders awaiting execution in the regime.

Balal, who killed Iranian youth Abdolah Hosseinzadeh in a street fight with a knife in 2007, is brought to the gallows during his execution ceremony in the northern city of Noor on April 15, 2014. The mother of Abdolah Hosseinzadeh spared the life of the her son's convicted murderer, with an emotional slap in the face as he awaited execution prior to removing the noose around his neck. AFP PHOTO/ARASH KHAMOOSHI/ISNA (Photo credit should read ARASH KHAMOOSHI/AFP via Getty Images)

Balal, who killed Iranian youth Abdolah Hosseinzadeh in a street fight with a knife in 2007, is brought to the gallows during his execution ceremony in the northern city of Noor on April 15, 2014.(ARASH KHAMOOSHI/AFP via Getty Images)

Senior Iranian official Majid Tafreshi, a member of the Iranian regime’s High Council for Human Rights who has admitted to several such executions each year, argued that executions of underage children are not a “symbol of violations of human rights.”

Iran has a variety of cruel, punitive measures, including torture, for “offenders” — often on fabricated charges as a means of suppressing dissent. 

While execution can be meted out for “offenses” such as adultery, Iranian authorities also reserve the right to administer blinding, amputation, and flogging – even for non-violent offenders such as thieves.

Last year, the U.N. condemned reports from Iran that LGBTQ youth are subject to electric shocks, the administration of hormones and strong psychoactive medications, as well as another mistreatment from state authorities, saying the practices amount to “torture.”

Meanwhile, human rights advocates within the regime opposing such policies face constant threats.

In January, an Iranian court was reported to have sentenced leading human rights activist Narges Mohammedi to eight years in prison and more than 70 lashes; and in February Iran’s parliament introduced new measures paving the way for even more restrictions on internet use in the theocracy.

In December, the U.S. imposed sanctions on a dozen Iranian government officials and entities for “serious” human rights abuses, including the repression of protesters and activists, in prisons where activists have been held in brutal conditions.

In June, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence expressed undying support for Iranian resistance while blasting the Biden team’s new concessions to the “tyrants” in Tehran, its “virtual abandonment of our ally Israel,” and the “disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan,” which have emboldened the “adversaries of freedom” that now sense “weakness” in the American administration.

He also accused the Biden administration of threatening to “unravel all the progress” the Trump administration made in marginalizing the Iranian regime. 

Though Tehran claims its nuclear program is for energy purposes, world leaders, including the six nations that joined the 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons capacity, say enriching uranium may lead to Iran’s ability to quickly create a nuclear weapon.

Nevertheless, current nuclear talks in Vienna may see the United States and other world powers provide Iran with economic sanctions relief in exchange for temporary restrictions on its nuclear program.

The Islamic regime is reportedly very close to developing its first nuclear missile and recently unveiled that it had a new long-range missile with a target range of approximately 900 miles.

According to a former State Department official, President Joe Biden’s impending agreement to restore the Iran nuclear deal offers the regime access to $90 billion in foreign currency reserves and sanctions relief to some of the world’s worst terrorists.

In addition to being granted hundreds of billions of dollars, it may likely be used for terror and aggression. The deal also will not prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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