The Senate will begin debate next week on a bill that would require that Congress sign off on any deal the US and its negotiating partners reach with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and his panel's ranking Democrat Robert Menendez (New Jersey) introduced a bipartisan bill on 27 February that would require the US administration to submit any comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program to Congress for its approval.
Opec's fourth largest oil producer, Iran's wellhead production totaled 2.85mn b/d in January, down slightly from 2.87mn b/d in December. But during the nuclear talks, Iran's exports have been limited to 1mn-1.1mn b/d, not including condensate. The end of sanctions could allow Iran to boost its output and put more oil on an already saturated market.
The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act would prohibit the US administration from suspending any congressional sanctions for 60 days. That would give lawmakers time to hold hearings on the agreement and decide whether to try to block the agreement.
If the agreement moves forward, the president would have to certify every 90 days that Iran is in compliance with the agreement. And if the president determines Iran has breached the accord, Congress could vote to restore sanctions.
"I would think anybody who ran for the US Senate and cares about the big issues facing our nation would want to support this legislation," Corker said today.
President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the measure. "We cannot put in place an additional hurdle for that agreement to overcome here at the 11th hour," the White House said yesterday.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said he will bring the measure to the floor next week to begin debate. "We think the timing is important," McConnell (R-Kentucky) said today. "We think it will help prevent the US administration from entering into a bad deal. But if (administration officials) do, then it will provide an opportunity for Congress to weigh in."
That announcement came just hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing a joint session of Congress, warned that the US and negotiating partners the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China are negotiating a bad deal with Iran.
"It does not block Iran's path to the bomb," Netanyahu said. "It paves Iran's path to the bomb."
Netanyahu said Iran's nuclear program could be rolled back "by insisting on a better deal and keeping up the pressure on a very vulnerable regime, especially given the recent collapse in the price of oil."
Obama said the deal being negotiated would roll back some elements of Iran's nuclear program and ensure the US and its allies have at least a year's warning before Tehran could produce a bomb. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Obama said the alternative that Netanyahu is presenting "is no deal, in which case Iran will immediately begin once again pursuing its nuclear program."
Obama said there is no evidence from the past decade that sanctions will be sufficient to prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear program. "Sanctions will not do it," he said.
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