Hearing of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee and the North Africa and Middle East Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee - Iran and Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere

Hearing

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, made the following statement at a joint subcommittee hearing of the Western Hemisphere and Middle East and North Africa subcommittees titled, "Iran and Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere." The hearing was held a day after the 23rd anniversary of the Iran and Hezbollah-linked bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 29 and left hundreds more injured. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

Chairman Duncan, Ranking Member Sires, Ranking Member Deutch: it's a pleasure to hold this joint subcommittee with you all and I thank you for your leadership.

Two years ago, these two subcommittees held a similar joint hearing to discuss the State Department's report on Iran's influence in Latin America -- that you spearheaded, Mr. Chairman. Our assessment then - that the report was woefully inadequate, that State did not follow the law as required, and that our Federal agencies lack a coherent and detailed strategy to combat Iran in the Hemisphere - was confirmed by a GAO report published last year. It is simply unacceptable for our administration to ignore the threats in the region simply because the President wishes to forge a foreign policy legacy, whether it be with Cuba or Iran. State should immediately provide our subcommittees with the missing information on Iran's activities in the Western Hemisphere and explain why the information was not included in the first place.

Despite State's intransigence, its partners at SOUTHCOM disagreed with its assessment and have been forthcoming - as you pointed out, Mr. Chairman - about the nature and risk of the Iranian threat. SOUTHCOM has repeatedly stated that its very own limited intelligence capabilities in the region, combined with the lack of partner capacity, prevent our full awareness of Iran and Hezbollah's activities.

And this is where our problem lies: The Obama administration has failed to allocate the necessary resources to truly assess the threat of Iran and Hezbollah, not just in our Hemisphere, but throughout the world. The intelligence community does not have the resources or the political support to properly address the threat because so much attention is being paid elsewhere. And as General Kelly stated, Mr. Chairman, as you pointed out, it isn't just Iran that is threatening our region -- it is ISIL and other terror groups, but we have not given this threat its due attention. We are currently not able to track national security threats in the region, including potential instability, the influence of Iran and other actors like Russia and China, and the collaboration between criminal and terrorist networks.

The administration continually underestimates the threats in the region that pose a grave risk to our own national security as well as that of our partners. What we do know is that Iran and its proxy Hezbollah want to circumvent sanctions, to counter US-influence, and to make use to the growing networks of transnational organized crime in order to finance its own terror activities. Iran has opened up more than 80 cultural centers in Latin American in order to export its toxic brand of political influence and serve its interests, focusing on partnering with nations well-known for their anti-American rhetoric, including Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.

The Treasury Department has sanctioned multiple Venezuelan banks and Venezuelan regime operatives, including the former Minister of Interior and Justice. The State Department has designated Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and CAVIM, the Venezuela weapons company, for their role in helping Iran circumvent sanctions. Yet, the Obama administration continues to buy oil from the same entity that it sanctioned in 2011 for shipping two cargoes of gasoline to Iran. And we are seeing terrorist groups forge connections to drug cartels in the region, forging a deepening narco-terror connection that is funding so many of the terror groups and their activities. Drug trafficking funds terrorism -- it's that simple. So our comprehensive strategy must also address this fundamental cause of the problem.

Recent reports of the connections between Hezbollah and the FARC, the murder the Special Prosecutor of Argentina, Alberto Nisman, and the alleged conspiracy between the Argentine government, Venezuela, and Iran to cover up Hezbollah's activities and involvement in the AMIA bombing do nothing to quell doubts about Iran's activities in Latin America. Alberto Nisman was a courageous and strong leader who was dedicated to pursuing the truth behind the AMIA terrorist attacks -- wherever they may have lead. His death must be investigated in a comprehensive and transparent manner to search for the truth and his work on AMIA must continue forward.

The AMIA attack wasn't the first time we saw Iran's deadly activities in Argentina -- yesterday was the 23rd anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires which killed 29 and injured hundreds more. I stand in solidarity with the people of Argentina in mourning this horrific attack, the AMIA bombing, and the tragic loss of Alberto. We must ensure that Nisman's memory and his life's work lives on.

So the question is why is this administration so intent on downplaying the Iranian threat? It now appears the administration has even scrubbed its most recent Worldwide Threat Assessment report of all Iranian connections to terrorism or Hezbollah in order to make it easier to eventually lift sanctions on Iran. The parallels between the administration's misguided Iran policy and its Cuba policy are clear. The President has been using Cuba as the test case for actually normalizing relations with Iran. So it should come as no surprise that the Iranian threat in our own Hemisphere is also downplayed by the administration.

It is time for the President to stop trying to burnish his foreign policy legacy and stop putting politics ahead of national security. The White House must let the truth about Iranian involvement in the Western Hemisphere be exposed, put the necessary intelligence capabilities in place to monitor Iran and its activities, and finally develop a serious strategy to counter what can only be called a threat.

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