The fate of a new package of sanctions on Iran proposed by US lawmakers may hinge on whether Iran and six major world powers can make any progress at high-level talks this weekend toward resolving a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
There is broad support among Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress to add more oil- and banking-related sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.
But the proposed package of sanctions stalled in the gridlocked US Senate in late March, just before lawmakers left Washington for a two-week break.
Lawmakers, who return to Congress on Monday, will be watching to see what comes from the talks in Turkey for clues about where to take the proposed new sanctions.
"Maybe the talks actually increase the pressure when we’re back in session next week," said one Senate aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
If the talks accomplish little, there will be renewed pressure on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make a deal to advance the new sanctions, said a senior Republican congressional aide.
"If there’s a real credible agreement there, then the need for further sanctions will be diminished. If it collapses, and is a joke like last time, then certainly the Reid position will weaken very rapidly," the Republican aide said.
Tightening the noose
The new proposals come as the Obama administration implements tough new sanctions passed by Congress last year aimed at Iran’s central bank and at countries that fail to make "significant" cuts to oil purchases from Iran.
The new batch of measures seeks to close loopholes, focusing on foreign banks that handle transactions for Iran’s national oil and tanker companies.
The Senate Banking Committee’s version of the bill has already had an impact. The panel proposed that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, shut out Iran’s central bank and other financial institutions from the system used to move money between banks around the world.
European regulators ordered Belgium-based SWIFT to disconnect designated Iranian financial firms from its messaging system last month, the first time the electronic payment system had ever expelled banks.