Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) addresses the AIPAC’s annual policy conference at the Washington Convention Center March 5, 2013 in Washington, DC
The US Senate is ratcheting up pressure on the Obama administration to toughen sanctions against Iran amid “positive” nuclear talks between Tehran and the six world powers.
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said on Monday that the Senate aims to cut Iran’s current oil exports to 500,000 barrels per day.
“This is not the time to loosen sanctions,” Menendez was quoted as saying by Reuters.
He made the comments during a meeting of the most powerful Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in New York.
AIPAC has recently sent a memo to members of Congress, insisting that Iran does not have the right to enrich uranium.
“The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) does not speak about the right of enrichment,” reads the memo, obtained by Foreign Policy magazine’s The Cable from a congressional aide.
Sen. Menendez said that he had told Obama administration officials that he was ready to work with his fellow senators to move a new package of sanctions in the Senate.
The House of Representatives adopted a similar measure in July. The Senate was to debate the bill in September, but the White House asked it to delay the sanctions bill to give nuclear talks a chance.
Menendez and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) co-authored tough financial sanctions against Iran in 2011.
Iran held nuclear talks with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany in Geneva earlier this month. The two sides are set to meet again in Geneva on November 7-8.
The Senate measure could undergo some changes in the Senate Banking Committee before being passed by the full Senate, reconciled with the House, and signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew are set to hold a secret meeting with senators about progress of the nuclear talks on Thursday.
On Monday, Kerry defended the ongoing talks with Iran in an apparent rejection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand for more pressure against Tehran.
The top US diplomat said “some have suggested that somehow there’s something wrong” with giving diplomacy a chance.
“We will not succumb to those fear tactics and forces that suggest otherwise,” Kerry said.
Netanyahu has repeatedly called on Washington to use tightened sanctions and the language of military threat until Tehran dismantles is uranium enrichment program.
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Source: Press TV