Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

U.S. president warned he would veto any new sanctions on Iran, saying it will threatens progress in negotiation on Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

Barack Obama has called on the U.S. Congress not to rush into new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

"New sanctions passed by this Congress before the talks are completed will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails. That is why I will veto any new sanctions bill that threatens to undo this progress," Obama said during a speech on January 20 before a joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate, Press TV reported.

Several U.S. Senators are set to reintroduce a new bill seeking to impose tougher sanctions against Iran in case the negotiating sides fail to achieve the desirable results. It is expected that the new Republican majority in the Senate, led by their leader Mitch McConnell, as well as some Democrats will work over the legislation to expand the sanctions package against Iran and its nuclear program.

However, the White House has repeatedly stated that additional U.S. sanctions against Iran would "blow up the negotiations" on Tehran's nuclear program.

"Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first time in a decade, we’ve halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material,” Obama said.

He said Iran and the P5+1 group - the U.S, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - have a chance to reach a comprehensive agreement by this spring, however, warning that "there are no guarantees that negotiations will succeed" and vowed to "keep all options on the table to prevent a nuclear Iran."

Obama also warned that any new hostile move against Iran would "alienate" the United States from its allies and ensure that "Iran starts up its nuclear program again."

The comments came as the White House and Congress remained divided over Iran, with a bipartisan group of senators pushing a new round of sanctions against Tehran.

Earlier, Iran warned off new sanctions against the country saying it can harm the ongoing nuclear talks over its disputed nuclear energy program.

Iran and six world powers are in talks to work out a final deal aimed at ending the longstanding standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Political directors of Iran and the P5+1countries wrapped up their talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 18. This was the second round of discussions since Tehran and the six world powers failed to work out a permanent nuclear deal by last November’s deadline despite making some progress.

The recent talks haven’t yielded tangible progress in negotiations. The two sides are now seeking to reach a high-level political agreement by March 1 and to confirm the full technical details of the agreement by July 1.

Iran and P5+1 group have decided to extend their talks for seven more months until July 1, with the interim deal they had signed in Geneva in November 2013 remaining in place.

The scale of Iran’s uranium enrichment and the timetable for the lifting of anti-Iran sanctions are seen as major sticking points in the ongoing negotiations.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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