Lawmakers slam Obama policy on Iran

Key lawmakers on Capitol Hill are openly criticizing the White House for its plans to avoid a vote in Congress on any nuclear accord with Iran.

“I disagree with the administration’s reported assertion that it does not need to come to Congress at this point during negotiations with Iran,” said Eliot Engel (D-NY), the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s top Democrat, in a statement on Tuesday, according to the Foreign Policy magazine.

Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, also said that “Congress cannot be circumvented” as Iran and the P5+1 group are negotiating to narrow their differences over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program ahead of a November 24 deadline.

The US Treasury Department has conducted a study concluding that President Barack Obama has the authority to suspend “the vast majority” of sanctions on Iran without a congressional vote,The New York Times revealed Monday.

Sources close to the Iranian negotiating team say the main stumbling block to resolving Western disputes over Iran’s nuclear issue is the removal of sanctions, not the number of centrifuges or the level of uranium enrichment.

The Obama administration is reportedly planning to suspend sanctions without an immediate vote in Congress, but it says lawmakers will have the final word on whether to permanently terminate sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The powerful Israel lobby is leading the charge against lifting anti-Iran sanctions.

“We have long supported a strong congressional role,” a source with American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz has rejected the reports that the Obama administration is trying to bypass Congress on a nuclear deal with Iran.

“The notion that we are trying to avoid congressional consultation and input on this is preposterous,” Schultz said on Monday.

HRJ/HRJ