President Obama has threatened to veto a House Republican bill aimed at limiting his ability to lift sanctions on Iran under the nuclear deal struck last year.
Describing it as a measure that would tie the administration’s hands in fulfilling its commitments under the deal, the Obama administration late Monday said the bill links the nuclear deal’s commitment to provide sanctions relief to non-nuclear issues outside the scope of the agreement.
In fact, the administration said, the bill could completely undermine the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
“By preventing the United States from fulfilling its JCPOA commitments, [the bill] could result in the collapse of a comprehensive diplomatic arrangement that peacefully and verifiably prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” the administration said in a statement.
In turn, any collapse of the nuclear deal, would “deal a devastating blow to America’s credibility as a leader of international diplomacy,” the administration said.
The Iranians have publicly warned that any effort by the U.S. to fail to live up to its commitment to lift the sanctions would nullify the deal.
The measure, the Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act, passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week and is expected to reach the House floor for a vote Wednesday.
The bill comes as billions of dollars worth of sanctions are set to be lifted in the coming weeks. Under the deal, the U.S. and other world powers involved in negotiating it will remove sanctions against Iran after Tehran fulfills certain steps in rolling back its nuclear program.
The House GOP bill would prevent the president from removing certain Iranian individuals and entities from receiving sanctions unless the administration can certify that they are not terror financiers, human rights abusers or involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
It would also require the administration to provide Congress quarterly reports on the sanctions regime against Iran.
Right now, the bill has no equivalent in the Senate so is unlikely to pass and reach the president’s desk.
Still, the administration wants to stop it in its tracks. In its veto statement, the Office of Management and Budget stressed that sanctions targeting Iran’s support for terrorism, its ballistic missile tests and human rights abuses would remain in effect.
Republicans and several Democrats over the past week have called on Obama to take swift action against Tehran and impose targeted sanctions after two reported ballistic missile launches and the firing of rockets near U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
In December, the administration prepared a press release announcing new sanctions on Iran for the ballistic missile testing, but reversed course and decided not to issue the sanctions at the time.
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday that the administration still plans to issue those targeted sanctions in the near future.
