New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez introduced a bipartisan bill with Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty called the MISSILES Act, which aims to impose U.S. sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program.

As Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in his address to Congress this morning, Iran spreads hatred, danger, and terror in the Middle East and publicly calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

The looming October 2023 sunset of key UN Security Council restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missiles and drones – including potential transfers to Russia for use against Ukraine – underscores the need for this urgent legislation, and serves as a wake-up call to the U.S. and the international community.

This bill – a companion to H.R. 3152 – codifies sanctions on Iran’s missile and drone program under Annex B of UN Security Council Resolution 2231. It ensures that Iran’s destabilizing development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology remains subject to appropriate U.S. sanctions in the likely event that Russia and China block an extension of UN restrictions in the Security Council.

“Iran will not stop developing its missile and drone programs, nor will they stop providing this dangerous technology to its proxies and to Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine,” Menendez, who also serves as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.

“It is absolutely vital that our sanctions policy reflect that reality in the event UN restrictions come to an end in October. The United States must continue to disrupt Iran’s proliferation of missiles and UAVs, as well as its supply to proxies and to Russia, and we call on our allies and partners to join us in addressing the threats posed by Iran’s ballistic missile program.”