88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
By Karoun Demirjian November 15
Congress’s other must-pass measure: Iran sanctions]
The House vote is also a signal to Trump, who campaigned on a promise that he would rip up the Iran deal when he took office, at one point even calling that his No. 1 priority as president. But in the week since his election, he has been backing away from that threat. Last week, Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares indicated that Trump would demand changes to the deal but would not scrap it entirely.
President Obama, who recently met with Trump about the transition, said Monday that he doubted that Trump would make changes to the deal, calling Iran “a good example of the gap, I think, between some of the rhetoric in this town — not unique to the president-elect — and the reality.”
“My suspicion is, is that when the president-elect comes in, and he’s consulting with his Republican colleagues on the Hill, that they will look at the facts,” Obama told reporters Monday. “When you are responsible for the deal and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, you’re more likely to look at the facts.”
Despite the GOP’s criticism of the Iran deal, which not a single Republican in Congress supported, Republicans don’t sound too eager for Trump to keep his promise to rip up the agreement. Instead, leaders are hoping that Trump takes cues from Congress about how to further squeeze Tehran.
“An alternative way is to ratchet up this pressure outside of the agreement … it doesn’t allow the world to say the United States ripped up this deal,” said one Republican congressional aide, who added that the GOP hoped Trump would lean into Iran with more sanctions and efforts to clamp down on cash payments. The GOP has argued that a payment of about $1.7 billion that the Obama administration sent Iran to settle an outstanding tribunal judgment was “ransom” because it was timed to coincide with the release of American prisoners being held in Tehran.
The House has already passed measures to restrain Iran in all of those areas, and on Wednesday, it will probably add one more to the mix when it votes on a bill to prevent Boeing from sending planes to Iran. Obama has already promised to veto that measure.
But first, House lawmakers voted on a measure to impose new sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and anyone, including Iran and Russia, who supports his government’s efforts to acquire weapons to be used in Syria’s civil war.
The purpose of the measure is to compel an international response to the targeting of civilians, documented by a defector who took tens of thousands of pictures depicting the mass murder of civilians and torture practices.
[Trump, Putin agree in phone call to improve ‘unsatisfactory’ relations between their countries, Kremlin says]
But by looping Russia into the category of regimes that would be targeted by the new sanctions, the House risks running afoul of the incoming Trump administration, which has advanced a friendlier posture toward Russia and espoused a more hands-off strategy vis-à-vis Syria.
Trump has not weighed in on the bill. House GOP leaders were adamant this week that any differences between them and their president-elect over their approach to Russia would not create discord over this bill.
“Regardless of people’s perception about a given regime, or how we approach the conundrum of Syria, there’s going to be consensus on the books to call to account those who committed the war crimes of this magnitude,” Royce said Monday. “Regardless of perspectives on Syria, there’s some unanimity of opinion in sending a message on this kind of conduct.”
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) added in a statement Tuesday that he was “glad the White House has stopped blocking these critical sanctions, which are a necessary response to Assad’s crimes against humanity.”
House passes two sanctions bills, sending foreign policy message on Iran and Syria
Welp?
Congress’s other must-pass measure: Iran sanctions]
The House vote is also a signal to Trump, who campaigned on a promise that he would rip up the Iran deal when he took office, at one point even calling that his No. 1 priority as president. But in the week since his election, he has been backing away from that threat. Last week, Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares indicated that Trump would demand changes to the deal but would not scrap it entirely.
President Obama, who recently met with Trump about the transition, said Monday that he doubted that Trump would make changes to the deal, calling Iran “a good example of the gap, I think, between some of the rhetoric in this town — not unique to the president-elect — and the reality.”
“My suspicion is, is that when the president-elect comes in, and he’s consulting with his Republican colleagues on the Hill, that they will look at the facts,” Obama told reporters Monday. “When you are responsible for the deal and preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, you’re more likely to look at the facts.”
Despite the GOP’s criticism of the Iran deal, which not a single Republican in Congress supported, Republicans don’t sound too eager for Trump to keep his promise to rip up the agreement. Instead, leaders are hoping that Trump takes cues from Congress about how to further squeeze Tehran.
“An alternative way is to ratchet up this pressure outside of the agreement … it doesn’t allow the world to say the United States ripped up this deal,” said one Republican congressional aide, who added that the GOP hoped Trump would lean into Iran with more sanctions and efforts to clamp down on cash payments. The GOP has argued that a payment of about $1.7 billion that the Obama administration sent Iran to settle an outstanding tribunal judgment was “ransom” because it was timed to coincide with the release of American prisoners being held in Tehran.
The House has already passed measures to restrain Iran in all of those areas, and on Wednesday, it will probably add one more to the mix when it votes on a bill to prevent Boeing from sending planes to Iran. Obama has already promised to veto that measure.
But first, House lawmakers voted on a measure to impose new sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and anyone, including Iran and Russia, who supports his government’s efforts to acquire weapons to be used in Syria’s civil war.
The purpose of the measure is to compel an international response to the targeting of civilians, documented by a defector who took tens of thousands of pictures depicting the mass murder of civilians and torture practices.
[Trump, Putin agree in phone call to improve ‘unsatisfactory’ relations between their countries, Kremlin says]
But by looping Russia into the category of regimes that would be targeted by the new sanctions, the House risks running afoul of the incoming Trump administration, which has advanced a friendlier posture toward Russia and espoused a more hands-off strategy vis-à-vis Syria.
Trump has not weighed in on the bill. House GOP leaders were adamant this week that any differences between them and their president-elect over their approach to Russia would not create discord over this bill.
“Regardless of people’s perception about a given regime, or how we approach the conundrum of Syria, there’s going to be consensus on the books to call to account those who committed the war crimes of this magnitude,” Royce said Monday. “Regardless of perspectives on Syria, there’s some unanimity of opinion in sending a message on this kind of conduct.”
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) added in a statement Tuesday that he was “glad the White House has stopped blocking these critical sanctions, which are a necessary response to Assad’s crimes against humanity.”
House passes two sanctions bills, sending foreign policy message on Iran and Syria
Welp?