Senate votes to extend “terrorism-related sanctions” against Iran

The US Senate has voted on a bill that would continue “sanctions related to the Islamic Republic’s terrorist activities.” The US State Department has also said that the country is prepared for the scenario of the Vienna talks failing.

The US Senate voted on Wednesday, April 4, on a bill that aims to maintain and continue sanctions "related to the Islamic Republic's terrorist activities."

The bill was introduced by Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas, and 86 out of 100 senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties voted in favor of it. Twelve senators voted against it.

In addition to maintaining and strengthening sanctions on Iran in connection with the country's "terrorist activities," the approved plan also considers laying the groundwork for restricting China's military-economic cooperation with Iran.

The plan calls terrorism-related sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran and the Revolutionary Guard Corps “necessary” to limit Iran-China cooperation.

In his speech when the bill was passed, Cruz described Iran and China as America's most dangerous enemies and said, "The Islamic Republic is the world's leading sponsor of terrorism by supporting terrorist groups."

Reuters writes in its report on the approved plan that the plan is not currently binding, but if it becomes legal, continuing international cooperation with Iran within the framework of the JCPOA negotiations will become even more complicated and difficult, although many of Washington's European allies currently do not have much hope for the revival of the JCPOA.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price also announced on Wednesday that the United States is prepared for a situation in which no agreement is reached in the Vienna talks on the JCPOA.

In a press conference, he stated that the United States wants to negotiate for Iran to return to full compliance with the terms of the JCPOA, adding: "We remain in contact with our European allies and support the constructive role of Enrique Moura (the EU's chief negotiator in the Vienna talks) in conveying messages between the United States and Iran."

Price, stating that the Vienna negotiations process has taken longer than the United States expected, described returning to the JCPOA as still in line with "the national security interests of the United States."

He stated in this regard: "Since the previous US administration withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, Iran's nuclear program has progressed in a way that is unacceptable to us, and as a result, Iran's nuclear escape time has been reduced from about a year to a few weeks."

"America's preparedness for different situations"

The US State Department spokesperson considered the reciprocal return to JCPOA commitments as a reason for Iran's nuclear escape to be significantly prolonged.

He continued by stating that his country is prepared for both scenarios of agreement or no agreement with Iran, emphasizing the importance of contacts and discussions with the United States' allies and partners, including Israel, and announced that other tactics are on the agenda to deal with different situations resulting from the Vienna talks.

The eighth round of negotiations on the revival of the JCPOA, which began on January 26 of last year, entered a period of respite on March 19, 2021, at the suggestion of Enrique Moura, the EU's chief negotiator and coordinator of the Vienna talks, and the negotiators returned to their capitals for political consultations.

Western diplomats say that European officials intend to try to break the current deadlock in the negotiations by sending Mora back to Tehran.

The United States considers Iran's proposals and demands beyond the JCPOA, including the removal of the Revolutionary Guard Corps from the terrorist list, to be the cause of the deadlock in the negotiations. According to American officials, if Iran wants sanctions beyond the JCPOA, it must also address and act on US concerns that go beyond the JCPOA.

However, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic, said in his latest interview: "The Vienna negotiations have not stopped, but are continuing in another process with the aim of lifting sanctions and through the exchange of written messages with the American side through the representative of the European Union."

Source: DW