U.S. Republicans preparing tougher sanctions on Iran
By Sara Rajabova
As Iran and P5+1 are preparing for their upcoming nuclear negotiations the U.S. Congressmen are planning to tighten sanctions on Iran.
A group of Republican lawmakers, who win the majority in Congress, is set to reintroduce a new bill seeking to impose tougher sanctions against Iran in case the negotiating sides fail to achieve the desirable results.
Senator Mark Kirk said on January 8 that he expected the Senate Banking Committee to vote on the bill, co-authored by Kirk and Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, within weeks, Reuters reported.
The Menendez-Kirk bill was introduced in December 2013, when President Barack Obama's fellow democrats had majority in the Senate. It did not come up for the vote at that time as the White House insisted that the bill could spoil talks on Iran's nuclear program.
The White House repeatedly stated that additional U.S. sanctions against Iran would "blow up the negotiations" on Tehran's nuclear program.
"If we impose additional sanctions, we will blow up the negotiation process,” U.S. President Barack Obama's national security assistant Susan Rise said last December commenting on the Republicans’ proposals to impose new restrictions on Iran.
Nuclear negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 group – the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – wrapped up their latest round of talks on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Geneva on December 17, 2014.
The Geneva discussions were held almost three weeks after Tehran and the six countries failed to reach a final agreement by a November 24 deadline despite making some progress.
The two sides agreed to extend their discussions for seven more months until July 1, 2015. They also agreed that the interim deal they had signed in Geneva in November 2013 should remain in place during the negotiations.
The Republicans in Capitol are supporters of more adamant stance in regard with Iran’s nuclear energy program, aiming to bring Tehran to the knee in nuclear talks with tougher sanctions.
However, Tehran said the recent changes in U.S. Congress will have no impact on Tehran’s stance in the nuclear talks with the P5+1 group of countries.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister have recently said in his interview with Iran’s parliament news service, ICANA that he thinks it is possible to reach a final nuclear deal with the P5+1 within a short period of time.
He, however, added that the other negotiating sides should abandon their excuses and don’t try to prolong talks over Iran’s nuclear programin this regard.
Zarif also said certain achievements have been made in the talks after the last round of negotiations with the P5+1 in Vienna this past November. However, he emphasized that those achievements cannot be made public before they are complete.
The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers will be held on January 18.
Prior to the talks, Iran’s foreign policy chief Zarif and his American counterpart John Kerry are to meet in Geneva.
The two top diplomats will travel to the Swiss city on January 14 to meet prior to the bilateral meeting of their deputies, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said on January 9, Press TV reported.
Araqchi said Iranian and American negotiating delegations will subsequently hold bilateral negotiation January 15 to 17 in Geneva and that Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers will negotiate at deputy foreign ministerial level on January 18.