```

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 328 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 328

Expressing the sense of the Senate on steps the Government of Iran must 
 take before further bilateral negotiations between the Government of 
              Iran and the United States Government occur.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 6, 2014

     Mr. Cruz (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Expressing the sense of the Senate on steps the Government of Iran must 
 take before further bilateral negotiations between the Government of 
              Iran and the United States Government occur.

Whereas, on September 27, 2013, the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, and 
        President Barack Obama engaged in the first direct contact between 
        Iranian and United States leaders since 1979;
Whereas the Government of Iran has yet to take any practical steps towards 
        halting Iran's nuclear programs and remains a committed state-sponsor of 
        terrorist groups that have been responsible for American deaths in 
        Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Afghanistan;
Whereas, since the election of President Rouhani, the persecution by the 
        Government of Iran of religious minorities, notably Christians, has 
        increased not decreased;
Whereas United States citizens remain imprisoned in Iran, including Pastor Saeed 
        Abedini, Amir Hekmati, and Robert Levinson;
Whereas President Rouhani has called Israel the ``Zionist state'' that has been 
        ``a wound that has sat on the body of the Muslim world for years and 
        needs to be removed'', and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has 
        called Israel a ``rabid dog'' facing ``annihilation'';
Whereas a Joint Plan of Action was released from Geneva on November 24, 2013, 
        outlining first step, voluntary measures to be taken over a six month 
        duration providing the Government of Iran with some $7,000,000,000 in 
        relief from economic sanctions, while extracting no substantive 
        concessions from Iran on their nuclear program; and
Whereas the representatives of the United States engaging in these negotiations 
        failed to raise the issue of the United States citizens imprisoned in 
        Iran and to rebuke their Iranian counterparts for their vicious rhetoric 
        against Israel at the highest levels: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that, before further 
bilateral negotiations between the Government of Iran and the United 
States Government occur, the Government of Iran must--
            (1) immediately and without conditions release all United 
        States citizens unjustly detained in Iran; and
            (2) publicly affirm the right of Israel to exist as a 
        Jewish state.
                                 <all>
```