US Senate Passes 10-Year Extension of Iran Sanctions Act
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The US Senate passed a 10-year extension of sanctions against Iran on Thursday, sending the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law and delaying any potentially tougher actions until next year.
The measure passed by 99-0. It passed the House of Representatives nearly unanimously in November, and congressional aides said they expected Obama would sign it.
The ISA will expire on Dec. 31 if not renewed. The White House had not pushed for an extension, but had not raised serious objections.
Members of Congress and administration officials said the renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) would not violate the nuclear agreement with Iran reached last year.
"While we do not think that an extension of ISA is necessary, we do not believe that a clean extension would be a violation of the JCPOA (Iran deal)," a senior administration official said, Reuters reported.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said recently the extension would breach the agreement and threatened retaliation.
Democrats who backed the accord said they did not believe the ISA extension violated the pact because it continued a sanctions regime that was already in place. They said they had not heard such objections from US partners.
"I have not heard strident objections from our key allies in the JCPOA," Democratic Senator Chris Coons told reporters.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France as well as Germany – reached the nuclear agreement last year, under which Tehran agreed to limit some aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for removal of all sanctions.
The two sides began implementing the deal on January 16. However, members of US Congress said they wanted ISA to be extended for another decade to send a strong signal that any US president would have the ability to “snap back” sanctions on Iran.
