Under pressure from powerful Israel lobbying groups, several US Senators are pushing for new sanctions against Iran, hoping the nuclear deal reached with Iran fails, an American expert says.
Å“A large number of groups in the United States are being influenced by the Israeli politics, in particular by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)”, said William Beeman, a Middle East expert based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
AIPAC Å“is an extremely powerful lobby in Washington and the AIPAC lobby influences both Democratic and Republican Congress people,” Beeman, professor of anthropology at The University of Minnesota, told Press TV on Sunday.
Despite a veto threat from US President Barack Obama, hawkish senators say they will press forward with additional sanctions against Iran by overriding the presidentâ„¢s veto.
The White House was quick to condemn the new anti-Iran effort by the senators with Obamaâ„¢s Press Secretary Jay Carney saying that the president would veto the bill Å“if it were to pass” Congress.
Å“We have a real conflict between the White House and certain members of Congress,” Beeman added.
Å“There are other members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican, who are opposed to trying to establish new sanctions on Iran, so there is a lot of discussion and a lot of controversy within the Senate and the House of Representatives itself,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has already warned that any new sanctions against Iran passed by US Congress would kill Å“the entire deal” reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Britain, Russia, France and China — plus Germany on November 24.
AHT/DB
Source: Press TV