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 Any such legislation could jeopardize delicate negotiations toward
a comprehensive agreement with Tehran to curb its nuclear program
after world powers clinched an interim deal with Iran last month,
President Barack Obama's administration has argued.
"The president and Secretary (of State John) Kerry have made a
strong case for a pause in Congressional action on new Iran
sanctions, so I am inclined to support their request and hold off on
committee action for now," Democratic Senator Tim Johnson said in a
statement.
The Banking Committee oversees sanctions legislation in the Senate,
and has been debating for months whether to go ahead with new
restrictions to push Tehran to roll back its nuclear program.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was quoted as saying
any new U.S. sanctions — which the United States promised not to
impose in the November 24 Geneva agreement — would kill the deal.
The administration has been engaged in an all-out bid to make its
case for a delay.
Kerry testified at a public hearing of the House of Representatives
Foreign Affairs Committee on the issue on Tuesday. He and Treasury
Secretary Jack Lew scheduled a classified briefing for the entire
100-member Senate on Wednesday.
The lead U.S. negotiator in Geneva, State Department's Wendy
Sherman, and David Cohen, the Treasury's sanctions chief, were to
testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.
"NOT SAYING NEVER"
At Tuesday's hearing, Republicans and Democrats raised questions
about the interim deal between Iran and six major powers under which
Tehran would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for limited
relief from U.S. economic sanctions.
The Obama administration hopes that the agreement, slated to last
six months but renewable for a further six months by mutual consent,
will provide time to negotiate a final deal with the Iranians within
a year.
"We are asking you to give our negotiators and our experts the time
and the space to do their jobs and that includes asking you while we
negotiate that you hold off imposing new sanctions," Kerry said.
"I am not saying never ... If this doesn't work, we are coming back
and asking you for more. I am just saying not right now," he added.
"This is a very delicate diplomatic moment."
Obama has said he can envision a final agreement that would ensure
Iran does not have the capacity to build a nuclear bomb. Tehran says
its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
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The Republican-led House passed a new package of sanctions by a vote
of 400-20 in July. That bill seeks to cut Iran's oil exports to near
zero over the course of a year to try to reduce the flow of funds to
the nuclear program.
However, the Democratic-led U.S. Senate has moved much more slowly,
in part at the administration's request, and it remains unclear
whether Congress may be willing to put the November 24 deal at risk
by passing additional sanctions.
In a sign of bipartisan skepticism over the interim agreement, Eliot
Engel, the top Democrat on the House panel, told Kerry he thought
the administration would have more leverage with more sanctions.
"I think it could potentially strengthen your hand with a good cop,
bad cop scenario," Engel said.
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate also say they are close to
introducing a new standalone bill — outside the banking committee — that would seek to impose new sanctions in six months if Iran does
not comply with the interim deal.
It was not clear how such a bill would fare without banking
committee support, given that the Senate's Democratic leaders are
among Obama's strongest allies in Washington.
Kerry suggested any new sanctions would be seen as an act of bad
faith because Washington agreed under the November 24 deal not to
impose additional sanctions. He also said they could undermine the
unity of the six major powers who negotiated that deal: Britain,
China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
"We are at a crossroads, we are at one of those hinge-points in
history — one path could lead to an enduring resolution in the
international community's concerns about Iran's nuclear program, the
other path could lead to continued hostility and potentially
conflict," Kerry said.
(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner and Lesley Wroughton;
editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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