US Congress delays sending annual Iran sanctions bill to White House
The US Congress has postponed sending its annual sanctions legislation on Iran to the White House reportedly over certain considerations after the election of Hassan Rohani as the Islamic Republic’s next president.
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A view of the US Congress building
If the legislation, which is aimed at escalating the sanctions against Iran, is even ready this year, it will not be considered until October at the earliest, the Washington Post reported, citing Congressional Quarterly.
This is while, in the past, the Congress would send the bill to the White House every summer.
While no specific reason has been officially announced as to why the sending of the legislation has been delayed, the Washington Post report said it might have been due to certain considerations by the Congress following the election of Rohani.
Rohani won 50.7 percent of the vote to secure an outright victory in the June 14th presidential election.
Nearly 50.5 million Iranians, including more than 1.6 million first-time voters, were eligible to participate in the election. The Interior Ministry put the voter turnout at 72.7 percent.
The Congress’ decision to delay discussing its sanctions legislation against Iran comes as Tehran and the P5+1 group - the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany - are laying the groundwork to hold their next round of comprehensive negotiations, which among other things focus on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.
The latest round of talks between the two sides was held in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 16. Two earlier meetings had also been held in the Kazakh city of Almaty on April 5-6 and February 26-27.
The US, Israel and some of their allies falsely claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with Washington and the European Union using the unfounded allegation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on Iran.
Tehran strongly rejects the groundless claim over its nuclear energy activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
