Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, expressed grave concerns over the pending negotiations between the United States and other “P5+1″ countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran with regard to Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
OU Executive Director for Public Policy Nathan Diament stated on behalf of the OU leadership: “The leadership of the Orthodox Union views with grave concern the pending negotiations between the P5+1 western countries and Iran which most recently occurred in Geneva and are still pending.”
For the past several years, the American Orthodox Jewish community, along with our fellow Americans, has watched as Iran has worked assiduously to obtain nuclear weapons capability. In the U.S., we have supported and appreciated the efforts of Congress to legislate sanctions and the Obama Administration to implement them.
The pressure of these sanctions brought Iranian leaders to the negotiating table. In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has sought to delay Congress legislating further sanctions. And, based on reports of the just concluded talks in Geneva, it appears that the U.S. is prepared to relieve the existing sanctions for what appears to be little movement toward the stated goal of ending the prospect of Iran having nuclear weapons capability.
This state of affairs is at odds with the critical interests of the United States and is at odds with the policy goals and assurances President Obama has repeatedly announced.
We therefore call upon President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry to act in accordance with the policy goal of stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capacity and we call upon Congress to pass legislation increasing sanctions on Iran to help achieve that goal.”
The Orthodox Union is the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization; the OU Advocacy Center, formerly the Institute for Public Affairs, is the non-partisan public policy arm of the OU and leads its advocacy efforts in Washington, DC and state capitals.