The bill also sanctions anyone
associated with Iran regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
IRAN, 25 July 2017--To impose additional sanctions on Iran’s
defense sector, The House voted 419-3 today moving the bill forward to be
approved by President Trump
While there are some
slight modifications to the bill’s sanctions on Russia, the language on Iran is
undistinguishable to the version the Senate passed 98-2 in June. Like its
Senate counterpart, the House bill would block the assets of any individual who
works with Iran on its ballistic missile program or sells it arms.
The bill also
sanctions anyone associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC) or anyone whom the US determines is complicit in Iranian human rights
violations. Anyone sanctioned under the act may be removed after a five-year
review.
Although the Senate
had already voted in favor of the sanctions package on June 15 by 98-2, the
House has tacked an additional set of provisions sanctioning North Korea onto
the bill, forcing the upper chamber to vote once more. The House has already
passed the North Korea sanctions separately by a vote of 419-1, but the Senate
has not yet taken it up.
Senate Foreign
Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., negotiated with the House over the
weekend alongside the committee’s ranking member, Senator Ben Cardin, D-Md., to
reach consensus.
Corker stated: while
the Senate is close to approving the House package, the addition of the North
Korea sanctions could cause further delays before the long-awaited sanctions
finally make their way to the White House.
“We’re about there,”
Corker told reporters. “It depends on a couple of things we’re looking at on
the North Korea piece, so it’s not fully worked out. … We’re talking through
some procedural issues right now, but we had a very good weekend and are very,
very close to having it fully resolved.”
Nonetheless, Senate
Democrats are eager to vote on the sanctions and deliver it to the president
before the August recess.
“It is critical that
the Senate act promptly on that legislation,” said Schumer. “I will work with
the majority leader to ensure its swift passage so that we can get it to the
president’s desk before we leave for the recess.”
The White House is
supportive of taking a harder line against Iran but had initially opposed the
bill as it would require Congress to approve any removal of sanctions on
Russia. However, the White House changed its tune over the weekend with press
secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying, “The administration is supportive of
being tough on Russia, particularly in putting these sanctions in place.”
And while president
Trump has twice certified that Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA, most
recently last week, he only did so after a lengthy internal debate inside the
administration.
Foreign Policy
reported last week that Trump has asked his aides to make a credible case for
declining to recertify that Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA. The
administration must certify Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA every 90 days
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