Iran Sanctions Bill Authors to Suspend Support Until End of March

Senator Bob Menendez announced Tuesday that US Senate sponsors of a sanctions bill against Iran would not support the bill's passage on the Senate floor until March 24.

WASHINGTON, January 27 (Sputnik) — US Senate sponsors of a sanctions bill against Iran announced they will withhold their support for their own bill until the March 24, 2015 deadline set by P5+1 negotiators and Iran for a political framework agreement, Senator Bob Menendez said in a Tuesday hearing on new Iran sanctions.

“This morning…many of my Democratic colleagues and I have sent a letter to the president [Barack Obama], telling him that we will not support passage of the Kirk-Menendez bill on the Senate floor until March 24, and only if there is no political framework agreement,” bill sponsor Menendez stated during a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

Menendez continued that he and his colleagues in the US Senate remain “deeply skeptical” of Iran’s committment to good faith negotiations on its nuclear program.

The senator further argued that the legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran would not be in violation of the Joint Plan of Action, the political framework agreement between Iran and the P5+1.

“Our bill would not impose sanctions until one month after the final deadline runs out, at the end of June,” Menendez stated. Further, he stated that the legislation would provide US President Obama with the flexibility to pass monthly waivers to put off congressional sanctions if he believes the negotiators are “on the verge of a deal and it is in the national security interest to do so.”

During a Tuesday Senate hearing, US Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that a commitment by the US Senate to postpone a bill on new sanctions would be "something we would see favorable." Blinken added that US negotiators could "use the time and space effectively," if the Senate held off a vote until March 24.

The Kirk-Menendez bill of 2014, the Nuclear Free Iran Act, received broad bipartisan support in the Senate from nearly 60 US senators, according to the congressional record. The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on Tuesday to explore the implications of new sanctions on Iran.

The Obama administration has warned repeatedly that new Iran sanctions imposed by the US Congress would be counterproductive to the nuclear negotiations and the president has threatened to veto any legislation from Capitol Hill that calls for new Iran sanctions.