A 10-year extension of long-standing Iran sanctions will become law without President Obama’s signature, in an apparent symbolic move after both chambers of Congress passed the package by a near-unanimous margin.
Administration officials, who had worked to delay the extension of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), reiterated arguments on Thursday that the congressional sanctions are unnecessary and that the executive maintained sufficient power to push back on illicit Iranian activity.
“Consistent with this longstanding position, the extension of the Iran Sanctions Act is becoming law without the President’s signature,” read a statement from the White House.
Obama had been expected to sign the ISA, which passed the House in mid-November with only one dissenting vote. It later passed the Senate 99 to 0 in early December. Because Congress was still in session 10 days (excluding Sundays) after both chambers approved the measure, it will become law. Had Congress adjourned within that timeframe, the president’s inaction would’ve amounted to a “pocket veto,” and the ISA would not have become law.
Obama’s decision to not sign the extension came in the wake of Iranian threats to retaliate in response to the package. On Tuesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said the renewal was a violation of the nuclear deal and ordered the development of nuclear-powered ships. The White House said that his announcement “does not run counter to the international agreement to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
The State Department also underscored
“Extension of the Iran Sanctions Act does not affect in any way the scope of the sanctions relief Iran is receiving under the deal or the ability of companies to do business in Iran consistent with the [nuclear deal],” Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement on Thursday.
Kerry has been at the fore of a campaign to encourage companies and banks to engage with Iran, after complaints from Iranian officials that the country was not seeing the sanctions relief expected from the nuclear deal.
