{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://royce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=364027", "Republican Says Iran Deal Should Halt Uranium Enrichment by Michael Gordon for the New York Times", "2013-12-10", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Edward Royce", "R000487", "royce.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Laying down a marker, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday that a follow-on nuclear accord with Iran should require that Tehran stop enriching uranium.\r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      Laying down a marker, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Tuesday that a follow-on nuclear accord with Iran should require that Tehran stop enriching uranium.  \r\n\u201cThe key issue is whether a final agreement would allow Iran to manufacture nuclear fuel,\u201d the chairman, Ed Royce of California, said during a hearing that included testimony by Secretary of State John Kerry. \u201cIt simply can\u2019t be trusted with enrichment technology, because verification efforts can never be foolproof.\u201d\r\nComments by Mr. Royce and other panel members effectively shifted the terms of the debate from the interim accord that the United States and five other world powers negotiated last month, which involved freezing much of Iran\u2019s nuclear program, to the more comprehensive one that international negotiators now plan to pursue.\r\nThe interim agreement is for six months, but it can be renewed for an additional six months by mutual consent. The goal is to buy time so that a more sweeping agreement can be negotiated. The interim agreement also outlines some of the provisions of such a follow-on agreement, saying that Iran could continue to enrich uranium \u201cunder mutually agreed parameters\u201d and under \u201cenhanced monitoring.\u201d\r\nMr. Kerry said to the panel that he did not know if a comprehensive agreement could be achieved, but that the United States had an obligation to try. And, seeking to defuse the congressional push for additional sanctions, he said that imposing new penalties at this point would poison the atmosphere for such talks.\r\n\u201cWe have an obligation to give these negotiations an opportunity to succeed,\u201d Mr. Kerry said.\r\nTrying to reassure the lawmakers, Mr. Kerry said that the scope of any future Iranian enrichment activity under a comprehensive agreement would need to be \u201cmutually agreed\u201d and would be linked to legitimate civilian needs.\r\nBut the six-month interim agreement, Mr. Kerry asserted, was also in the best interest of the United States because it halted important elements of Iran\u2019s program.\r\n\u201cThe national security of the United States is stronger under this first-step agreement than it was before,\u201d said Mr. Kerry, who asserted that Israel and Persian Gulf Arab states were also more secure.\r\nMr. Kerry promised that the Obama administration would go to Congress for tougher sanctions if the effort to negotiate a comprehensive nuclear accord with Iran faltered. \u201cWe are committed to asking you for additional sanctions if we fail,\u201d Mr. Kerry said. \u201cWe will need them.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://royce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=364027"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4669080264866352, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}