Israel Matzav

House warns Obama on Iran sanctions

The US House of Representatives has warned President Hussein Obama that if it doesn't like whatever deal Obama reaches with Iran on its nuclear capabilities, it will not lift the sanctions against the Islamist state.

The leading Democrat and Republican of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and ranking member Eliot Engel (D-NY), wrote the letter intended to remind the White House of Congress' role in any future nuclear pact forged with Iran: specifically, the legislature's role in easing, lifting or repealing sanctions levied against the Islamic Republic.
Attained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post, the letter outlines what Engel has referred to in the past as the "minimum requirements for a good deal," noting that any deal "demands congressional approval."

"The concept of an exclusively defined 'nuclear-related' sanction on Iran does not exist in US law," the letter reads. "Almost all sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program are also related to Tehran’s advancing ballistic missile program, intensifying support for international terrorism, and other unconventional weapons programs."

An interim deal reached in November with Iran, temporarily freezing the international impasse, requires the Congress to refrain from passing any new "nuclear-related sanctions" as world powers attempt to negotiate a comprehensive solution to the crisis.

"Iran's permanent and verifiable termination of all of these activities— not just some— is a prerequisite for permanently lifting most congressionally-mandated sanctions," the letter continues.

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The letter notes that, in recent testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Secretary of State John Kerry has acknowledged any deal with sanctions relief would require Congress' consent "by law."

The lawmakers "urge greater consultation with Congress on a potential sanctions relief package," it reads.

Responding to the Post, administration officials contend that sanctions are, indeed, adequately demarcated based on human rights abuses, sponsorship of terrorism, drug trafficking and proliferation of unconventional weapons by the Treasury Department.

I'm all in favor of seeing Congress hold Obama's feet to the fire, but this threat is kind of empty. Enforcement is entirely a power of the executive branch. Congress can pass all the sanctions they want, but if Obama doesn't enforce them, the only sanction they have is impeachment. It's now June of 2014. When will that bad deal be reached? How long will it take for Congress to say 'keep enforcing the sanctions'? How long will it take for the House to draft and pass articles of impeachment for Obama's failure to enforce the sanctions? How much time will a Senate trial take?

See what I mean - the threat is empty. Obama isn't going to accomplish anything in his last two years in office anyway - particularly if the Republicans win control of both Houses of Congress in November.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, United States Congress, US House of Representatives

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:46 PM