26 Senators introduce bill for new Iran sanctions, Obama threatens veto
The bill, the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, has 25 cosponsors across party lines, including Senators Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Bob Casey, Marco Rubio, Chris Coons, John Cornyn, Kirsten Gillibrand and Bob Corker.
“Current sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table, and a credible threat of future sanctions will require Iran to cooperate and act in good faith at the negotiating table,” Menendez said in a statement. “Prospective sanctions will influence Iran’s calculus and accelerate that process toward achieving a meaningful diplomatic resolution.”
The decision to move forward with the bill may be more political than practical: with just days left in the congressional session before members recess for the holiday, Menendez and the bill's co-author, Mark Kirk, have no realistic chance of getting a vote before the new year.
That means they will have to reintroduce the bill next session for a vote, calling in to question why the bill was introduced on Thursday. On the same day, technical talks resumed in Geneva between Iran and world powers over how to implement last month's interim agreement over its nuclear program.
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"The American people rightfully distrust Iran's true intentions and they deserve an insurance policy to defend against Iranian deception during negotiations,” Kirk said. “This is a responsible, bipartisan bill to protect the American people from Iranian deception and I urge the Majority Leader to give the American people an up or down vote."
Motivated politically or otherwise, their action comes with risk: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned that new sanctions action from Congress would render the interim agreement, forged in Geneva last month, "entirely dead."
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After the deal passed, Menendez, a Democrat, was one of the first leadership members to suggest the "trigger" bill now introduced that would respect the six-month timeframe of the interim agreement— but would automatically sanction Iran after that deadline should world powers and Iran fail to reach a comprehensive deal.
The new sanctions would target Iran's oil sector, which has already seen a 60 percent drop in exports since 2011 due to sanctions.
The Obama administration has threatened that such a bill would be interpreted as "action" by the Iranians, sufficient to amount to a violation of the Geneva agreement. Better to have a bill drafted and ready for the day after deadline, they asserted, than passed and ready for implementation.President Obama is threatening to veto the bill.
The White House says it would veto new congressional legislation that would toughen sanctions against Iran.
Senators from both parties introduced the legislation on Thursday. They did so despite appeals from the White House, which wants to avoid implementing new penalties while the U.S. is holding nuclear negotiations with the Islamic republic.
White House spokesman Jay Carney says the sanctions would undermine American diplomatic efforts.
The bill sets restrictions that would go into effect if Tehran violates an interim nuclear deal it reached with world powers last month or lets the agreement expire without a long-term accord.
Unclear? The last bill two years ago passed 100-0. The bill has 13 Democratic co-sponsors and when you add that to the 45 Republican Senators, you're already at 58. It only takes 67 to override a veto.A Senate vote won't happen until January at the earliest, and it's unclear whether the bill will have enough support to pass.
Hmmm.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, Mark Kirk, Robert Menendez
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:41 PM
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