WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) today asked U.S. State Department officials pointed questions about Iran’s repeated violations of the U.N. Security Council’s (UNSC) ballistic missile ban at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled “The Status of JCPOA Implementation and Related Issues."

Menendez said: “I have a very clear sense – and I hope I’m wrong – that what we have here is a permissive environment… What we got really was a process in the JCPOA that gave Iran the easy out by really just simply answering questions as they wanted to without really fully coming clean.”

Menendez spoke about recent reports of Iran’s ballistic missile ban violations and his concerns that the UNSC would not take action because of Russia and China. He then asked: “Is the Admin ready to act and find its own set of actions so that Iran understands the consequences of violating the international order?”

The full question-and-answer exchange can be viewed below:

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