As talks over Iran’s nuclear program resumed Sunday in Geneva, lawmakers in Congress moved forward with legislation to impose new sanctions on Tehran, defying a veto threat from President Obama.
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee announced that it would meet Thursday to consider bipartisan sanctions legislation by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
It’s an indication that the two senators have lined up enough support to deliver Obama a humiliating defeat on the issue just days after he publicly threatened to veto any proposed sanctions. Last month, Kirk told the Washington Examiner that he and Menendez were aiming for legislation that could receive bipartisan support sufficient to overcome any presidential veto.
House lawmakers are working on their own sanctions bill.
Support for sanctions is strong in both chambers of Congress, in spite of intense administration lobbying on the issue. Legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran passed the House in July 2013 by a 400-20 vote. In the Senate, an earlier version of the legislation by Menendez and Kirk had majority support last year but was blocked by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The new GOP majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has pledged to allow a vote on new sanctions, and support in the House appears at least as strong as it was in 2013.
It appears unlikely that Obama will be able to thwart new sanctions unless negotiators from the “P5+1” group — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — can reach agreement in the latest round of talks with Tehran on limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
The talks are aimed at reaching a final deal before the deadline to replace a November 2013 interim agreement is missed for a third time. Negotiators hope to have the framework for a permanent deal in place by March and finalize it before the extension runs out June 30.
Administration officials argue that congressional efforts to impose new sanctions will rupture the talks, a point Iranian officials also have emphasized.
Visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron even joined in the lobbying effort Friday while in Washington.
“I have contacted a couple of senators this morning and I may speak to one or two more this afternoon … to make the point as a country that stands alongside America in these vital negotiations, that it’s the opinion of the United Kingdom that further sanctions or further threat of sanctions at this point won’t actually help to bring the talks to a successful conclusion and they could fracture the international unity that there’s been, which has been so valuable in presenting a united front to Iran,” he said at a news conference with Obama.
But there’s a growing sentiment among lawmakers that the administration has lost the leverage necessary to reach a deal that would prevent Iran from being able to build a nuclear weapon — President Obama’s stated goal and one of the cornerstones of his foreign policy.
That sentiment is fueled by concerns Obama is too willing to tolerate provocations from Iran, such as the referral Wednesday of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian for prosecution by a revolutionary court and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s announcement the day before that his government is building two new nuclear power plants in the southern province of Bushehr.
The administration has refused to link the case of Rezaian and other U.S. citizens being held in Iran, insisting those issues should remain separate. But in an editorial Sunday, the Post noted that “it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that he is being used as a human pawn in the regime’s attempt to gain leverage in the negotiations.”
