Ernst Demands Accountability for Terrorist-Backed Attacks on U.S. Servicemembers
At least 45 U.S. servicemembers were injured in Iran-linked attacks.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) joined her colleagues in calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen to fully enforce sanctions on all Iraq-based terrorist groups linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for attacks on U.S. servicemembers.
“In recent months, these Iraq-based terror groups reportedly murdered a U.S. citizen in Baghdad, murdered a U.S. contractor and wounded four U.S. service personnel in Syria, and abducted a U.S.-based researcher. Many of these Iraq-based groups participated in the more than two dozen attacks on U.S. troops in the region since October 17. In each such attack, groups responsible have ties to the IRGC but are not currently designated as FTOs under U.S. law,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The United States has an obligation to protect its citizens, which means ensuring that IRGC-linked organizations can’t terrorize them under different names,” they continued.
Read full text of the letter here.
Background:
Ernst has led the bipartisan charge in Congress to hold the Biden administration accountable to enforcing sanctions against Iran to prevent them from fueling and funding terrorist proxy groups like Hamas.
She has also worked to redesignate Iran-backed Houthis and Hamas as terrorist organizations.
###
