Foster Statement on Iran Strikes, Escalating Nuclear Risk

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) issued the following statement regarding U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran.

“The Constitution is clear: the President does not have the authority to take the United States into sustained military conflict without Congressional authorization. If these strikes risk escalation into a broader war, Congress must be consulted and fulfill its responsibility. I will vote for the bipartisan War Powers resolution in the House next week to reassert that authority.

“As Congress’ only Ph.D. physicist, I am particularly concerned about the nuclear implications. Last June, the Administration declared that prior strikes had ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program. That was not a technically credible assessment then, and the fact that further strikes are now being justified on nuclear grounds makes that clear. Military strikes on facilities are not the same as eliminating fissile material.

“The central question is whether Iran’s stockpile of 60 percent highly enriched uranium has been fully accounted for. That material is weapons-usable. Without continuous monitoring, transparency, and verified accounting of that stockpile, claims that the nuclear threat has been neutralized are not technically credible.

“The Iranian regime is brutal, repressive, and openly hostile to democratic values. There is no question that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a grave threat to regional and global security. But military force against political targets cannot solve this problem. We need restored international nuclear inspections, a full accounting or destruction of enriched uranium stocks, and sustained diplomacy to prevent further escalation and mitigate the threat of nuclear catastrophe.”

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