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Nominee Joel Rayburn Backs 'Maximum Pressure' on Iran, Urges Stringent Verification
Summary
During his Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, nominee Joel Rayburn endorsed a return to a maximum-pressure campaign on Iran and said Tehran must not be allowed to retain an indigenous uranium-enrichment capability; senators debated enforcement tools and verification.
WASHINGTON — Joel Rayburn, the president's nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he supports reimposing a "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran and said any agreement must prevent Tehran from maintaining an indigenous enrichment program.
Rayburn said, if confirmed, he would implement President Trump's policy to "bring a maximum pressure approach back on the Iranian regime, particularly on its revenue streams driven by its oil exports," and described enforcement steps used during the previous administration to disrupt Iran's oil trade.
The exchange came during a broad committee discussion of U.S. policy toward Iran and nuclear nonproliferation. "You have to build out an enforcement apparatus," Rayburn said, listing measures including disrupting a "ghost fleet" of tankers, exposing…
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