The Biden-Harris administration failed to produce a congressionally mandated report on the Iranian regime’s mass human rights abuses and possible avenues for fresh sanctions, fueling accusations the United States is unwilling and afraid to confront Tehran at a time when its terrorist enterprise is in overdrive.
President Joe Biden was obligated under law to produce a report Wednesday assessing the Islamic Republic’s ongoing human rights crimes and prescribing new sanctions on regime officials complicit in them.
The report was mandated under the MAHSA Act, a bipartisan law passed after Iran’s morality police murdered a 22-year-old woman who was improperly wearing her head covering. The 2022 killing sparked mass demonstrations across Iran—threatening the hardline regime’s stability—and resulted in the arrest, torture, and killing of many protesters. The legislation was widely backed by leading Iranian reformists and advocacy groups opposed to the hardline regime.
Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), one of the bill’s lead authors, said the administration’s failure to produce the report is just the latest indication that it has no appetite to confront Iran, even as the country sponsors terror attacks across the Middle East and builds out its nuclear infrastructure to within inches of an atomic weapon. The issue is generating attention among foreign policy observers ahead of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Wednesday address to Congress, in which he is expected to raise concerns about America's failure to confront Iran.
"President Biden has shown he’s unable to execute the laws that Congress has enacted and the timing of today’s joint address from Prime Minister Netanyahu further underscores the consequences of a leaderless administration," Banks told the Washington Free Beacon. "The Biden-Harris administration’s continued failure will leave Israel more vulnerable to further attacks from Hamas and its biggest booster, Iran."
"I am calling on the White House to comply with the law, enforce the MAHSA Act and hold Iran accountable," Banks added. "This administration isn’t just incompetent, it is the most anti-Israel White House in American history. Vice President Harris has shamefully refused to preside over today’s historic joint address, which is Netanyahu’s first since Hamas’s horrific Oct. 7 killing spree."
Under the MAHSA Act, the president is required to produce an annual report assessing if a cadre of top Iranian officials should be sanctioned for their role in human rights crimes. Punitive measures must be imposed on these figures if it is determined they are enabling the regime’s strict police state.
"This isn't optional. The law mandates that the president *shall* make a determination and a report is required," Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against a Nuclear Iran, wrote on X.
Iranian-American advocacy groups also expressed alarm at the administration’s failure to follow the law.
"The MAHSA Act was enacted with a solemn commitment to promote accountability and defend human rights in Iran. Its timely implementation is crucial to addressing ongoing human rights violations and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable," the National Union for Democracy in Iran, an advocacy group, said in a statement. "A refusal to implement this law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, is an affront to human rights and democracy."
The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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