May 21, 2021
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy wishes to thank Congressman Rick Larsen for his kind generosity in allowing us to meet with his senior aide for foreign affairs, J. Z. Golden on May 18, 2021. Mr. Golden is also legislative director for Rep. Larsen and we very much appreciated his time with us.
Mr. Golden stated that while flawed, Rep. Larsen believes the JCPOA is the best framework for preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Our members vehemently disagreed and argued that allowing the regime access to funds only emboldens it to supply weapons to their terrorist proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen and the Taliban in Afghanistan. They pointed out that Iran has just received three billion dollars released from banks in So. Korea and Iraq and immediately Hamas was flush with missiles with which to attack Israel. Our members also pointed out the numerous human rights violations committed by the regime every day against women and religious minorities. They have also assassinated four young nuclear scientists for not doing their bidding.
AMCD advisor, Ken Timmerman, pointed out that the JCPOA doesn’t stop Iran from getting a nuke – just pushes out the deadline. And that under the JCPOA, Iran developed next generation centrifuges which reduced their breakout time to weeks, not even months. This is not in violation of the JCPOA. And furthermore, they were allowed to inspect themselves and would not grant access to their nuclear sites.
Another member advised that negotiations should be predicated on their releasing all political prisoners held in Iran.
Mr. Golden reiterated the Congressman’s support for re-entering the JCPOA. He stated that negotiations alone do not constitute support for the regime.
Our members all agreed that the Iranian regime will never uphold any agreement made with it and will continue doing everything in its power to roll back US influence in the Middle East and to obtain a nuclear weapon to gain regional hegemony. Knowing this, and knowing that their goal is to destroy Israel, should make the US very wary of any negotiations.