Republicans push for new Iran sanctions

FT.com

The latest extension to nuclear negotiations with Iran could set up a high-stakes confrontation between the new Republican-controlled Congress and the Obama administration in the early months of next year.

Pressure is already building among Congressional Republicans to introduce more sanctions against Iran – a proposal that can also count on the support of some prominent Democrats but would be strongly resisted by the White House.

While there remain divisions among senior Republicans about precisely what path to take, Congress will probably try to insert itself more into the negotiating process over Iran’s nuclear programme.

“Now more than ever, it’s critical that Congress enacts sanctions that give Iran’s mullahs no choice but to dismantle their illicit nuclear programme,” said Mark Kirk, one of the more hawkish Republican senators on Iran.

Iran and six world powers announced on Monday that they had agreed another seven-month extension to the talks that are designed to place strict limits on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for broad sanctions relief.

Speaking after the talks in Vienna, John Kerry, US secretary of state, said that there had been “real and substantial progress” and insisted that “this is not the time to get up and walk away”. The White House said new sanctions would be “counterproductive” and “could cause cracks in the international sanctions regime”.

The two leading members of the Senate foreign relations committee, which would have a major role in any new sanctions legislation, gave a nuanced response to the extension, mixing scepticism about Iran with flexibility about future plans.

Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat and outgoing chairman, said that the failure to reach an agreement meant that “the two-track approach of diplomacy and economic pressure that brought Iran to the negotiating table is also the best path forward to achieve a breakthrough.”

Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who will take over the chairmanship in January, said that “Congress must have the opportunity to weigh in before implementation of any final agreement and begin preparing alternatives, including tougher sanctions, should negotiations fail.”