A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is rolling out long-awaited legislation to crack down on the Iranian regime.
Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — who each opposed last year’s nuclear agreement — announced Wednesday that they would introduce a proposal to extend and expand sanctions against the Iranian regime, The Hill reported.
“In the absence of resolve from the White House, and with strong support from members of both parties, I am hopeful Congress will act in the coming months to pass this robust legislation to counter Iranian aggression,” Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said in a statement.
According to a release from Corker’s office, the proposal will impose mandatory sanctions on individuals tied to Tehran’s ballistic missile programs, the Revolutionary Guard or “any significant activities undermining cybersecurity by Iran.”
It includes a 10-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act, which is currently set to expire at the end of the year.
Manchin said that legislation will uphold “sanctions pressure on the Iranian regime through 2026 to improve its record on human rights and curtail Iran’s acquisition of ballistic missiles.”
The legislation would also require the president to block assets of individuals tied to supplying, selling or transferring “prohibited arms and related material” and bar any president from waiving sanctions under the legislation as part of any future deals with the Iranian regime.
Corker said earlier this year that he thought Obama was using national security waivers — which give him flexibility on enforcing sanctions — “in a manner that Congress never intended.”
The legislation comes approximately a year after the nuclear agreement between the Iranian regime, the United States and five other countries was announced.
Though GOP lawmakers failed to stop the deal in Congress, they’ve continued to blast the agreement. They’ve also voiced frustration over a string of ballistic missile tests and concerns that Tehran could get indirect help from U.S. financial institutions.
Lawmakers have been negotiating for months on how to pass new Iran legislation, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warning that he won’t let a bill come up unless it has enough support to override a presidential veto.
Corker predicted last year that an extension of the Iran Sanctions Act would get 67 votes, but Democrats have offered their own proposals in the wake of the agreement.
Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced legislation in May that would extend the Iran Sanctions Act until the president is able to certify to Congress that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) director general “has reached a broader conclusion … that all nuclear material in Iran remains in peaceful activities.”
That could set up the sanctions law to be lifted on the deal’s “transition day,” or roughly eight years after the nuclear agreement was adopted.
And Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, introduced legislation last year, which Democrats say was focused on strengthening the deal.
Cardin, so far, hasn’t signed onto Corker’s legislation, and indicated Wednesday evening that he’s still studying it.
“I’ve talked to them about it. … A lot of what’s in that bill are areas that I’ve covered in legislation that I’ve filed,” he told The Hill. “Some of the provisions that are not in there are more challenging.”
