Trump team mulls new non-nuke Iran sanctions

Tehran to respond

WASHINGTON, Dec 2, (Agencies): Donald Trump’s transition team is examining proposals for new nonnuclear sanctions on Iran, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing congressional sources who have been in contact with the president-elect’s team.

Officials with Trump’s team have been in touch with fellow Republicans in Congress, where they hold the majority, to discuss possible sanctions separate from last year’s Iran nuclear deal that could focus on its ballistic missile program or human rights, the sources told the FT.

“They (Trump team members) are already looking closely at their options — and that very much includes non-nuclear sanctions,” a congressional official told the media outlet.

The deal that was reached last year between Iran, the United States and five other world powers lifted some sanctions against Tehran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.

On the campaign trail, Trump, who takes office on Jan 20, vowed to tear up the agreement with Iran and negotiate a better one. He also criticized sanctions that blocked US companies from Iran and noted the difficulty of discarding a deal with UN backing.

The US Senate on Thursday passed a 10-year extension of sanctions against Iran that lawmakers and the Obama administration have said

would not violate the nuclear agreement reached last year with Iran. On Friday, Iran threatened retaliation, saying the vote breached the deal.

The measure, which passed the US House of Representatives last month, now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law. That would delay potentially tougher actions until next year.

Several Republican US lawmakers already have introduced proposals for additional sanctions on Iran separate from the nuclear pact or plan to do so.

“The big difference next year is that we will go from a White House that did everything it could to block these bills to a White House that will be in favor and maybe even sponsor some of these proposals,” a congressional source told the Financial Times.

Meanwhile, Iran said on Friday that Congress’s decision to renew US sanctions for 10 years was a violation of last year’s nuclear agreement and promised an “appropriate” response.

“As repeatedly stated by high-ranking Iranian officials, the recent bill passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate to renew sanctions against Iran is against the (nuclear deal),” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said.

“Iran has proved that it sticks to its international agreements but it also has appropriate responses for all situations.”

The Iran Sanctions Act passed the Senate 99-0 on Thursday, after easily clearing the House of Representatives last month.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign the measure, a White House official said, adding that the administration does not believe the extension violates the nuclear deal.

The legislation does not directly address the nuclear pact. But some say the restrictions in the bill go against the spirit of the agreement, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States and other nations.

The bill includes penalties against Iran’s banking sector, as well as its energy and defence industries.

Senate Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Tim Kaine, who both backed the nuclear deal, said that while the president was currently waiving some sanctions as part of the agreement, “sanctions legislation must remain in place to allow an immediate snap-back” in the event of any violation by Iran.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the US sanctions legislation “does exist but its effect has been currently neutralised by the US president”.

“If it becomes operational again, it’s a clear violation,” he told state television.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that he considered the sanctions bill a breach of the nuclear deal and warned Iran would “react against it”.

US President-elect Donald Trump heavily criticised the pact as he campaigned for the White House over the past year. Several fellow Republicans have called for its termination.

WASHINGTON, Dec 2, (Agencies): The Senate moved decisively Thursday to renew a decades-old sanctions law that lawmakers said gives the United States the clout to punish Iran should it fail to live up to the terms of the landmark nuclear deal. Senators passed the bill unanimously, 99-0, two weeks after the House also approved the legislation by an overwhelming margin of 419-1.

The bill to grant a 10-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act will be sent to President Barack Obama, who planned to sign it. The White House deemed the bill unnecessary but said it didn’t violate the international accord meant to slow Iran’s ability to make nuclear arms. Seeking to address Iran’s concerns, White House officials emphasized that the administration can and will waive all the nuclear-related sanctions included in the renewal.

The officials weren’t authorized to comment by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lawmakers view the sanctions law, which is set to expire at the end of the year, as an important tool for holding Iran accountable for any violations of the nuclear agreement and also as a bulwark against Tehran’s aggression in the Middle East. The law, first passed by Congress in 1996 and renewed several times since then, allows the US to slap companies with economic sanctions for doing business with Iran.

Suspend

In exchange for Tehran rolling back its nuclear program, the US and other world powers agreed to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions that had choked the Iranian economy. The White House has been concerned that renewing the sanctions could give Iran an excuse to scuttle the deal by saying the US had reneged on its commitments to sanctions relief.

Last month, after the House passed the renewal, Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Iran would be forced to react if the sanctions were renewed. White House officials said Thursday that Obama remained fully committed to implementing the deal and that the renewal would have no effect at all on the sanctions relief Iran is receiving.

But congressional Republicans and Democrats view the law as valuable leverage and criticized the Obama administration for not being tougher with Iran. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said Thursday that preserving the sanctions law is critical to blunt Iran’s “persistent efforts to expand its sphere of influence” throughout the Middle East. He also criticized the administration for allowing itself to be “held hostage” by Iran’s threats to withdraw from the nuclear agreement.

The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, said renewing the law will ensure President-elect Donald Trump can reinstate sanctions the Obama administration lifted to implement the Iran nuclear deal.

Corker, who has been mentioned as a candidate to be Trump’s secretary of state, said he is in favor of appointing a US official who would “radically enforce” the nuclear agreement. He also held out the possibility the deal could be renegotiated once Obama leaves office.

“My guess is, if cooperation doesn’t ensue relative to really enforcing this, significant changes will occur very rapidly,” Corker said.

However, several world powers signed onto to the deal and have showed no signs of backing away.

Congress approved the Iran Sanctions Act 20 years ago to block major foreign investment in Iran’s energy sector. The goal was to deny Tehran the ability to financially support terrorism and build nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.