Iran: US renewal of sanctions violates nuclear deal

Iran on Friday slammed a decision by US lawmakers to renew a decades-old sanctions law, saying it violates the 2015 nuclear agreement it signed with the Obama administration and six other world powers and promising an “appropriate” response.

“As repeatedly stated by high-ranking Iranian officials, the recent bill passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate to renew sanctions against Iran is against the (nuclear deal),” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said.

“Iran has proved that it sticks to its international agreements but it also has appropriate responses for all situations.”

Ghasemi also said the ministry would report the vote “to Iran’s committee assigned for monitoring the implementation of the deal,” Reuters said.

The Senate moved decisively Thursday to renew the sanctions law, which lawmakers said gives the United States the clout to punish Tehran should it fail to live up to the terms of the landmark nuclear deal.

Senators passed the bill unanimously, 99-0, two weeks after the House also approved the legislation by an overwhelming margin of 419-1.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned ahead of Thursday’s vote that any renewal of the sanctions would violate the nuclear agreement and be met with a “definite” response from Tehran.

“If these sanctions are extended, it will surely constitute a violation of the [nuclear deal] and they [the US] should know that the Islamic Republic will definitely react to it,” he said Wednesday without elaborating.

The bill, which grants a 10-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act will be sent to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it. Although the White House said the bill is still being reviewed, Obama administration officials said they’ve determined it doesn’t breach the international accord meant to slow Iran’s ability to make nuclear arms.

That satisfies a key condition Obama had established for his approval. The officials weren’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We’ll let you know what the president decides to do with it,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday.

Lawmakers view the sanctions law, which is set to expire at the end of the year, as an important tool for holding Iran accountable for any violations of the nuclear agreement and also as a bulwark against Tehran’ aggression in the Middle East. The law, first passed by Congress in 1996 and renewed several times since then, allows the US to slap companies with economic sanctions for doing business with Iran.

The White House had previously laid out a litmus test for the law’s renewal, saying Obama would reject if it would undermine the nuclear agreement reached last year. In exchange for Tehran rolling back its nuclear program, the US and other world powers agreed to suspend wide-ranging oil and trade sanctions that had choked the Iranian economy.

While the sanctions renewal bill doesn’t violate the terms of the nuclear deal, the Obama administration has said it considers the renewal unnecessary given the president’s other authorities to sanction Iran.

Congress approved the Iran Sanctions Act 20 years ago to block major foreign investment in Iran’s energy sector. The goal was to deny Tehran the ability to financially support terrorism and build nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.

Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has argued that keeping the law on the books is necessary if the US wants to retain “a credible deterrent” of putting sanctions back into place should Iran cheat on its obligations under the nuclear agreement.