New Iran Sanctions Bill Passes U.S. Senate Over Support for Terrorism and Human Rights Violations

On Thursday, the majority of the U.S. Senate voted on amendments to a new sanctions bill against the Islamic Republic of Iran, titled the “Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act.”

In this vote, which required 51 votes, an overwhelming majority of senators voted in favor of the new Iran sanctions amendments. 98 senators voted in favor and only two senators opposed it.

With this vote, the Senate measure will become law after approval by the House of Representatives and the signature of the President.

The “Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act” was introduced to the committee on March 23 (Farvardin 3) by Republican Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. The bill was temporarily set aside during Iran’s presidential elections but was approved on June 4 with 18 votes in favor and 3 votes against, and was sent to the Senate floor for final approval.

The “Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act” targets the terrorist network of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iran’s ballistic missile program development chain, and domestic repression in Iran.

Bob Corker, in his first reaction to the bill’s approval in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said we are not limiting ourselves to a nuclear agreement with Iran in countering Iran. This approval showed that we will finally hold Iran accountable for its non-nuclear destabilizing activities.

What are the Details of This Bill?

According to this bill, if approved by the Senate, the U.S. government must impose new sanctions within 90 days against individuals and entities involved in developing Iran’s missile programs.

Also, according to another provision of the bill, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will be directly subjected to sanctions. If this passes, it will be the first time the Guards are sanctioned. The United States previously sanctioned the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in 2007.

The “Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act” has three main components:

Ballistic Missile Sanctions: Based on this provision, individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile program and those who conduct business with them will be targeted.

New Terrorism Sanctions: For the first time, the United States will impose sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran on the charge of supporting terrorism.

Enforcement of Arms Sanctions: If this bill becomes law, all individuals who play a role in selling, supplying parts, repairing, and transferring tanks, armored vehicles, high-caliber weapons, military aircraft, attack helicopters, ships, missiles, and missile systems to Iran will be sanctioned by the President, and their assets will be frozen.

Sanctions Against Human Rights Violators: According to this bill, any person identified by the U.S. State Department as a human rights violator in Iran will be placed on the sanctions list.

In a section of this bill that must be approved by Donald Trump, it states that the U.S. President can temporarily suspend the implementation of certain sanctions using his authorities under specific circumstances.

John Kerry, former U.S. Secretary of State, previously called on American lawmakers in several tweets to refrain from further sanctions against Iran. Mr. Kerry warned that the approval of further sanctions against Iran might violate the JCPOA.

On Wednesday, June 24, the U.S. Senate added a Russia sanctions bill to the new Iran sanctions measure in the evening. Senators say that in response to Russia’s interference in last year’s presidential elections and its aggressive actions in various parts of the world, they agreed to new sanctions measures against Moscow.

The White House also previously stated that it is not yet ready to announce the President’s position on sanctions against Moscow or Tehran, and more information will be released later.

Source: Voice of America