The U.S. House of Representatives passed two pieces of legislation linked to the global nuclear agreement with Iran on Thursday, one year after the landmark pact was announced, defying President Barack Obama’s veto threat.
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“Over the course of the second year of implementation, the JCPOA will undergo major tests as both the US and Iran hold elections for the Presidencies of their respective countries”.
As a result of the nuclear deal, many worldwide sanctions against Iran were lifted, though the U.S.is still facing an uphill battle as it dabbles in potential business deals with the beleaguered Iran.
“We remain clear-eyed that the JCPOA did not resolve, nor was meant to resolve, concerns outside of the nuclear arena”, he said.
Obama said that Iran has implemented its nuclear-related commitments in the past year, as verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Obama administration has promised to veto any bill that undermines the nuclear agreement.
“Nobody pretends that some of the challenges we have with Iran have somehow been wiped away”, he said. “Providing additional situational awareness of Iran’s nuclear program is vital for the long-term health of this agreement”, the senators add in Friday’s letter.
“It took more than three and a half decades for diplomatic negotiations between the USA and Iran to become routine, and all of the diplomatic dividends of renewed ties will not come overnight or even in one year”. The U.S. Senate hasn’t acted yet.
Iran has lived up to its end of the deal. To that end, Kerry has lobbied European banks to make greater investments in Iran and US officials even have explored softening financial restrictions on Iran. Already this agreement has dramatically and verifiably rolled back Iran’s nuclear program, stringently limited Iran’s ongoing and future nuclear activities, and taken off the table what pre-JCPOA was the looming threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon in the foreseeable future. The Mideast’s wars pit United States and Iranian proxies in conflict.
Some opponents in Congress appear to be waiting for Obama to leave office to pounce with new legislation, but others are not: a House vote on several pieces of Iran-related legislation is conspicuously scheduled for the one-year anniversary Thursday.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he would renegotiate the deal, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who was involved with the initial nuclear diplomacy with Iran while secretary of state, would keep it in place. Many multinational banks and companies are fearful of US prosecution or fines.
Over 2,400 executions have been carried out under Hassan Rouhani’s Presidency.
“Iran’s macroeconomic indicators are actually looking good”, said Mark Dubowitz, an Iran sanctions expert.
According to Lieberman, Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism has been greatly enhanced through the JCPOA, thereby strengthening the abilities of its terror proxies – namely Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian-backed militias – to carry out its threats. “We still have serious differences with Iran, but the United States, our partners, and the world are more secure because of the JCPOA”. “Now is the time to lean forward and make sure that the historic steps taken since 2013 are irreversible”.
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Elaborating on water management projects in Iran, Chitchian further said the country has already constructed 160 large dams, which are now operating, and 90 more dams are under construction.
