Congress pushes for new Iran sanctions amid Iran deal uncertainty
With Trump set to announce a new, hard-line strategy on Iran today, lawmakers are advancing more sanctions on Tehran and its proxies.
Congress is pushing for a new round of sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program while demanding that the Donald Trump administration implement the sanctions the president signed into law in August.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee moved ahead today with a new round of sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program, paving the way for a vote on the House floor. The move comes as Trump is widely expected to announce a hard-line Iran strategy Friday even as he stops short of pulling out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., first introduced the Iran Ballistic Missiles and Sanctions Enforcement Act in March. It has since received broad bipartisan support from 320 co-sponsors.
Royce pointed to today’s committee vote and a Hezbollah sanctions bill that the committee passed last month as forming a two-pronged strategy to go after Iran for both its ballistic missile program and regional proxies. The Senate unanimously passed a different version of the Hezbollah sanctions bill last week.
