Senate Democrats are ripping Iran over threats issued by top Iranian officials to retaliate if Congress extends sanctions that the Obama administration has said are permitted under last summer’s nuclear deal, according to conversations with lawmakers conducted by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
The increasingly heated rhetoric, which includes threats from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, comes in the aftermath of a United Nations report documenting Iranian violations of the deal, as well as the election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has called the agreement “the worst deal ever negotiated.”
Iranian officials have threatened reprisal in recent weeks if Congress extends the longstanding Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) and have called the potential 10-year extension a violation of the nuclear deal. The Obama administration countered that the sanctions are technically allowed, but it has sought to delay renewal of the sanctions package.
Democrats rejected Iranian complaints Tuesday and reaffirmed their support for extending the ISA.
“Iran is making this up. These problems don’t exist,” Maryland senator Ben Cardin, ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told TWS. “Congress, by extending ISA, is not taking any new steps against Iran at all.”
Cardin, who voted against the nuclear deal, added that the ISA is critical for congressional “snapback” sanctions, should Iran violate the nuclear deal.
“Unless Congress acts, the congressional sanctions don’t exist after December 31,” Cardin said. “The ability to snap back wouldn’t be there on the congressional side.”
New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, who also voted against the deal, said that the ISA is critical for reigning in illicit Iranian activity and should be reapplied regardless of Iranian threats.
“The Iranians need to know that there are consequences for their actions. Hopefully, they will change their course of actions,” he said. “In the absence of that, the United States should not ultimately let them be the veto over what we decide is the appropriate foreign policy.”
Delaware senator Chris Coons reaffirmed support for the ISA as well as non-nuclear sanctions broadly, despite Iranian objections.
“I am convinced that Congress is well within its rights to extend the Iran Sanctions Act,” he said.
“Iran has always resisted non-nuclear sanctions and tried to tie them into the nuclear deal. That’s not correct,” he added. “I think it’s completely appropriate that we continue the sanctions architecture.”
In the wake of Khamenei’s comments, Iran experts noted that the Islamic Republic has repeatedly accused the United States of violating the deal in order to garner additional sanctions relief.
“Iranian outlets and officials have disparaged the U.S. for allegedly violating the nuclear deal by keeping non-nuclear sanctions on the books,” Behnam Taleblu, senior Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote in a policy brief. “However, these statements can be best understood as part of Iran’s broader strategy of seeking additional sanctions relief by claiming U.S. failures to uphold its end of the nuclear bargain.”
The House overwhelmingly passed a clean renewal of ISA earlier in November, 419-1.
