Ros-Lehtinen Pushes for Special Adviser on Iran Sanctions

A special adviser is needed to make sure that all required sanctions against Iran are being imposed, Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan.

"The individual would serve as the congressional equivalent to Ambassador Stephen Mull, whom the Obama administration named to serve as coordinator for the U.S. implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran Nuclear Program at the Department of State," the Florida Republican wrote to Ryan, reports The Washington Examiner.



Ros-Lehtinen, the former chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has written several of the sanctions bills on Iran in recent years, and suggested Ryan picked her former staffer director, Dr. Yleem Poblete, for the spot.

She further suggested the new congressional adviser work out of Ryan's office to make collaborating with committees with jurisdiction over Iran easier.

Ros-Lehtinen said Poblete served as her principal adviser for nearly 20 years on the Foreign Affairs committee, and as "principal staff member for the House on virtually every sanctions bill and Iran-specific legislation from the original ILSA to the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012."

ILSA, short for the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, tightened sanctions against Iran back in 1996.

The move comes as Republicans remain skeptical over President Barack Obama's willingness to keep sanctions up against Iran under the nuclear agreement reached last year, and fear he'll drop all sanctions, whether or not Iran holds up its side of the deal.

This week, The Wall Street Journal reported the United States is preparing sanctions against firms and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates over alleged links to Iran's ballistic missile program.

The move would be the first American sanctions against Iran since Tehran signed a nuclear deal with world powers in July that will eventually see Washington drop separate sanctions targeting that program.

Under the planned restrictions, U.S. or foreign nationals would be barred from doing business with the firms and people in the networks, and US banks would also freeze U.S.-held assets.

Ros-Lehtinen continues to chair the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and North America.

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