Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) called on President Joe Biden to reimpose sanctions former President Donald Trump placed on Iran and condemned Biden’s policies of easing and removing sanctions for “inviting” adversaries to attack and kill United States troops.

The House Republican’s call to action comes in response to conflict escalation between the U.S. and Iran through proxies. Last week, an Iranian proxy launched a drone attack, killing three American soldiers, and the U.S. responded with retaliatory strikes on Friday night.

“Why [Biden] would want Iran to have additional funding that they can use against our allies and against Americans is beyond me,” Gimenez said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “It makes absolutely no sense.”

“You lift sanctions on Iran, and they’re not going to act well,” he said. “They’re going to fund their terrorist network. They’re going to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and everybody else that just wants to cause chaos.”

The Biden administration repealed Trump’s sanctions against Iran on Feb. 18, 2021, during negotiations for a new nuclear deal with the Middle Eastern country. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Obama-era nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, on Nov. 5, 2018.

“The United States has launched a campaign of economic pressure to deny the regime the funds it needs to advance its bloody agenda,” Trump said of his litany of sanctions against Iran.

Trump restored all sanctions that had been removed as part of the Iran nuclear deal and targeted critical sectors of Iran’s economy, including its energy, shipping, shipbuilding, and financial sectors.

John Bolton, former national security adviser under the Trump administration, shared his thoughts on Biden’s policies with the Washington Examiner.

“The Biden administration’s mistake has been to relax enforcement of existing sanctions reimposed after the U.S. withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018,” he argued. “More sweeping sanctions are certainly in order, but everything depends on rigorous enforcement, of which we have seen almost nothing under Biden.”

“I totally agree with that,” Gimenez said in response to Bolton’s comments. “Never listen to what [Biden] says — actually look at what he does. It may not have been good politics to say, ‘I’m lifting sanctions,’ but if you don’t enforce the existing sanctions, it’s the same thing. And that’s what he’s doing.”

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) led a bipartisan group of colleagues in sending a Jan. 31 letter to Biden calling on him to enforce current law and act against Iran’s illicit oil trade through sanctions, just days after the drone attack that killed three American troops and injured many others.

Gimenez told the Washington Examiner that Biden’s policies are “benefiting dictatorial, and oppressive regimes around the world,” and that when Biden has to make a “decision of being good for American interests or bad for American interests, he always chooses what’s bad for American interests. He is wrong every single time, every single time. He seems to be working against it on purpose.”

The Washington Examiner consulted with Saeed Ghasseminejad, Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, to discuss Biden’s policies on Iran.

“When Biden assumed office, he inherited significant financial leverage over Tehran,” Ghasseminejad said. “However, his administration chose to entice Tehran by not fully enforcing, maintaining, and expanding U.S. sanctions against the regime.” 

“Since then, Tehran has sold more than $100 billion of oil, its non-oil exports have set records year after year, and its access to export revenue and currency reserves has significantly expanded. This approach has effectively diminished Washington’s financial leverage over Tehran, resulting in increased aggression abroad and oppression at home,” he continued.

“Tehran has boosted its funding for Hamas from $100 million to $350 million, intensified its efforts in Yemen by recruiting more Houthi fighters, and increased the quantity and quality of weapons sent to Shia militias across the region,” he said. “By enforcing, maintaining, and expanding US sanctions, Washington could pressure Tehran, reduce its financial firepower, and limit its capacity to fund aggressive foreign policies and oppressive domestic measures.”

Gimenez posted a statement on X following the U.S. retaliatory strikes against Iranian proxies Friday night, calling for the reinstatement of Trump’s sanctions against Iran and levying blame at the Biden administration for attacks on American troops.

“Biden’s failure to isolate the regime in Iran, annihilate Hamas, & support our strategic partners in the Middle East has emboldened the enemies of freedom to target, attack, & murder US troops,” he wrote.

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Gimenez told the Washington Examiner that the only way Congress could hold Biden accountable for his policies is through impeachment. “We can condemn the actions, but at the end of the day, it’s not Congress that can solve this problem. It’s going to have to be a new president,” he said.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the Biden White House and State Department for comment.