Reps. Green, Pfluger seek answers from Biden administration on Iran threats

U.S. Reps. Mark Green, MD (R-TN) and August Pfluger (R-TX) are requesting that the Biden administration provide more information on threats made by Iran against U.S. officials and individuals.

Specifically, the lawmakers are requesting a briefing on the ongoing threats against former national security officials and journalists. They are also looking for more information about the agencies’ coordination efforts to counter the regime’s activities.

These homeland security threats come as the Biden administration is negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran, they said.

“Iran has threatened to retaliate against American citizens, including senior-level former and current U.S. officials, for the January 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, former commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF). For example, on August 10, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against an Iranian national and member of Iran’s IRGC-QF for arranging the assassination of John Bolton, who served in senior national security positions during multiple Presidential administrations, and Mike Pompeo, who was the former Secretary of State under the prior administration. Further, credible threats by Iran have continued to persist against Pompeo as well as his former top aide, Brian Hook, who served as special representative for Iran during the prior administration,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray, and National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid.

Green is the chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman, while Pfluger leads the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence.

“Meanwhile, it is curious that while these egregious activities continue, the Biden administration is not taking actions to impose consequences on the Iranian regime and instead has renewed its push for a nuclear deal with Iran. To assist the Committee’s examination of the threats posed by Iran in the U.S. homeland, we request that DHS, the FBI, and NCTC provide Committee staff a classified briefing,” they concluded in the letter.