Two Democratic US senators have warned their fellow lawmakers against passing new anti-Iran sanctions legislation.
In a column published in Politico Magazine on Wednesday, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said any new anti-Iran sanctions bill passed by US Congress would derail nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
The two leading Democratsâ„¢ warning came as some hawkish lawmakers in the US Senate have begun circulating a draft of a new anti-Iran sanctions bill that violates the terms of an interim agreement reached between Iran and the six world powers, including the US, in Geneva last month.
In their column, Boxer and Levin wrote that such hawkish bills would ruin efforts to negotiate a permanent deal over Iranâ„¢s nuclear energy program.
“Media reports have suggested that Congress intends to pass legislation soon that would impose additional sanctions on Iran,” Boxer and Levin wrote.
“That would run the risk of derailing efforts toward a peaceful resolution” which is Å“clearly what the American people want and expect,” they added.
On November 24, Iran and the P5+1 inked an interim deal in Geneva to pave the way for the full resolution of the Westâ„¢s decade-old dispute with Tehran over its nuclear energy program.
However, some US senators are seeking to sabotage all efforts towards the full resolution of the Westâ„¢s dispute with Iran.
The new sanctions bill, proposed by Senators Robert Menendez (D-N.J), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), is likely to come to vote after US senators return to Capitol Hill on January 6.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a new anti-Iran sanctions bill in July by a 400-20 vote. The House bill seeks to cut Iranâ„¢s oil exports by one million barrels a day for the next year and includes threats of military force against Iran.
Meanwhile, the Å“Senate bill states Obama may not waive sanctions unless the United States and its allies Ëœreached a final and verifiable agreement or arrangement with Iran that will … dismantle Iran’s illicit nuclear infrastructure, including enrichment and reprocessing capabilities and facilities,â„¢” according to Foreign Policy which obtained a copy of the draft bill.
Iran insists its right, as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes must be respected by the P5+1 “ the US, Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany.
According to Article IV of the NPT, Iran, as a signatory to the treaty, has Å“the inalienable right” to Å“develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.”
US President Barack Obama also acknowledged Iranâ„¢s right to enrich uranium at Saban Forum at Washingtonâ„¢s Brookings Institution on December 7.
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Source: Press TV