US Senate majority leader Harry Raid has prevented the Senate from voting on a controversial anti-Iran bill that already has the support of some 60 senators.
Reid, a democrat, is holding up the vote after President Barack Obama urged the Senate not to pass the legislation that would impose additional sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear energy program if a recent deal reached in Geneva between Iran and the P5+1 nations fails.
Reidâ„¢s move also comes after the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, announced Sunday that Iran and the six world powers “ the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany “ agreed to begin implementing the Geneva nuclear deal on January 20.
The interim deal was reached on Nov. 24 after days of intense talks between the two sides.
Earlier, President Obama threatened that he would veto any legislation that pushes for further sanctions on Iran as nuclear negotiations are still underway with the country. Obama warned that the Senateâ„¢s bill could close the door on diplomacy.
Under the Geneva agreement, the P5+1 undertook to lift some of the existing sanctions against Iran in exchange for Tehranâ„¢s confidence-building measure to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities for a six-month period. It was also agreed that no nuclear-related sanctions would be imposed on the country within the same timeframe.
The Emergency Committee for Israel, a pro-Israel lobby, is now calling on Reid to allow a vote on the sanctions bill despite the announcement by the EU foreign policy chief.
Angry with recent progress made in a decade-long dispute between the West and Iran, the ECI said in its statement that Å“Obama is willing to accept an agreement that weakens even the original Ëœbad dealâ„¢ he announced two months ago.”
In November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the Geneva agreement as Å“a bad deal.” Since then, pro-Israel lobbies have tried hard to step up pressure on Iran by pushing for the sanctions bill in Congress.
ARA/ARA
Source: Press TV