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US senators seek additional sanctions against Iran

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US Republican Senator Bob Corker (left) and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin in the US Senate (file photo)
Press TV – February 3, 2017

A number of US senators have backed additional sanctions against Iran over the country’s missile program, arguing that Tehran “must feel sufficient pressure.”

Twenty-two senators, including Bob Corker (Republican from Tennessee) and Ben Cardin (senior Democrat from Maryland) pronounced their support in a letter they sent to US President Donald Trump on Thursday. Corker is the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

“Full enforcement of existing sanctions and the imposition of additional sanctions on Iran for its ballistic missile program are necessary,” the senators wrote.

They added that “we look forward to supporting your Administration’s efforts to hold Iran accountable.”

The Reuters news agency reported on Thursday that the Trump administration is expected to announce new sanctions against Iran on Friday to ratchet up pressure on the Islamic Republic.

This is while the US president said on Thursday that “nothing is off the table” in terms of a response to Iran’s latest ballistic missile test.

Hours earlier, Trump said the White House has formally put Tehran on notice over its recent ballistic missile test.

“Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile. Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!” Trump tweeted, echoing his national security adviser’s comments a day earlier.

‘Iran Non-Nuclear Sanctions Act of 2017’

Also on Thursday, a group of Republicans in the US House of Representatives introduced a bill for new sanctions on Iran as the Trump administration is mulling anti-Iran measures.

The measure, called the Iran Non-Nuclear Sanctions Act of 2017, seeks sanctions against Tehran for “supporting terrorism, abusing human rights, and testing ballistic missiles.”

It was presented by New York Representative Lee Zeldin, Illinois Representative Peter Roskam, New Jersey Representative Leonard Lance and Colorado Representative Doug Lamborn.

The proposed legislation comes after US House Speaker Paul Ryan said he would support imposing additional sanctions on Iran over its recent missile test.

“I would be in favor of additional sanctions on Iran,” Ryan told reporters on Thursday at a weekly press conference.

“We need to have a tough-on-Iran policy … We should stop appeasing Iran,” he said.

Washington has said Sunday’s ballistic missile test was in violation of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.

Tehran insists its missile tests do not breach any UN resolution because they are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Arms control experts have also said that Iran’s missile tests are not banned under the nuclear agreement and the Security Council resolution, because Iran’s missiles are not meant to deliver nuclear warheads.

Resolution 2231 calls on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

February 3, 2017 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

US lawmakers’ visa request is a publicity stunt: Iran’s Foreign Ministry

Press TV – June 7, 2016

Iranian Foreign Ministry has issued a response to the travel visa requests of three US republican lawmakers who had wanted to travel to Iran to monitor Tehran’s compliance with last year’s historic nuclear agreement.

“In sum, we consider your visa request to have been a publicity stunt and not an appropriate request to visit a sovereign country; and it has, and will continue to be, treated in that spirit,” said a letter published by the office of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday.

In February, three US lawmakers, Mike Pompeo, Lee Zeldin, and Frank LoBiondo, requested to visit Iran in order to inspect its nuclear sites. All three were vigorous opponents of the nuclear deal.

“Despite what you seem to presume, members of the US Congress do not get to dictate the policies of other countries. This clearly applies to Iranian visa policies. Bear in mind that as members of the US Congress you are not a global authority.”

The letter noted that according to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “is the sole body competent for monitoring” the implementation of the agreement’s nuclear provisions.

“In the modern era, visits to sites or parliamentary or other delegations to monitor elections are made upon invitations and through bilateral agreements between sovereign states or based on reciprocal arrangements, and not upon unilateral demands by self-arrogating individuals or parliamentarians,” the letter read.

“From the time when the manufactured ‘nuclear crisis’ has been settled through the JCPOA, tens of thousands of tourists, academics, investors, students and businesspeople from around the world — including many Americans — have obtained visas and traveled to Iran without any delay or complication.

“But they have been able to do so by making requests consistent with the relevant regulations of the host country and in the appropriate respectful manner and not in the completely inappropriate way you have demanded to visit Iran and interfere in what is of no relevance to your official functions. We doubt that any self-respecting country would grant a visa under such circumstances,” read another part of the letter.

After Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany started implementing the JCPOA on January 16, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the Security Council, and the US were lifted. Iran, in return, has put some limitations on its nuclear activities. The nuclear agreement was signed on July 14, 2015 following nearly a decade of on-and-off intensive talks.

June 7, 2016 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , | 1 Comment