Israel Matzav

Congress reaches agreement on Iran sanctions

Laura Rozen reports that Congress has reached an agreement on Iran sanctions. The Obama administration is not pleased.

The bill would provide for the exemption of countries from the sanctions based on certain criteria, on a case-by-case basis, but does not offer any country a blanket waiver. The Obama administration had been seeking exemptions for several countries and foreign blocs such as the European Union that it believes have bolstered international efforts to pressure Iran.

Key European allies, including those who were most supportive of U.N. sanctions, have told Washington they oppose what they call “extraterritorial” U.S. unilateral sanctions that would aim to penalize third-country entities, including their own firms.

...

This bill is problematic "since it is extraterritorial in scope," a Washington export control specialist said. "While the State Department is sensitive to those issues, Congress isn't."

As you may recall, the bill includes measures to penalize foreign companies who violate the sanctions by barring them from doing business in the United States. The Obama administration wanted a loophole big enough to drive a truck through that would have exempted all Russian and Chinese companies - effectively emasculating the sanctions. Congress has wisely said no. Here's the provision in question (pages 39-41):

‘‘(B) WAIVER WITH RESPECT TO COUNTRIES THAT COOPERATE IN MULTILATERAL EFFORTS WITH RESPECT TO IRAN. — The President may, on a case by case basis, waive for a period of not more than 12 months the application of section 5(a) with respect to a person if the President, at least 30 days before the waiver is to take effect— ‘‘(i) certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that— ‘‘(I) the government with primary jurisdiction over the person is closely cooperating with the United States in multilateral efforts to prevent Iran from— ‘‘(aa) acquiring or developing chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons or related technologies; or ‘‘(bb) acquiring or developing destabilizing numbers and types of advanced conventional weapons; and ‘‘(II) such a waiver is vital to the national security interests of the United States; and ‘‘(ii) submits to the appropriate congressional committees a report identifying— ‘‘(I) the person with respect to which the President waives the application of sanctions; and ‘‘(II) the actions taken by the government described in clause (i)(I) to cooperate in multilateral efforts described in that clause.’’

So the waiver is still there - it's just that the Obami will have to jump through minor hoops to invoke it.

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:01 AM