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US Senators Urge Extension of Iran Energy Sanctions

Iranian flag [Getty]
Iranian flag [Getty]
    London - Washington - Asharq Al-Awsat
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US Senators Urge Extension of Iran Energy Sanctions

Iranian flag [Getty]
Iranian flag [Getty]

A bipartisan group of senators on Friday introduced a bill to permanently extend the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, which allowed the US to impose sanctions on Iran’s energy sector.

The bill was introduced by Republicans Tim Scott and Bill Hagerty, and Democrats Maggie Hassan and Jacky Rosen.

It aims to extend the restrictions imposed in the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) of 1996 beyond 2026, when they are set to expire.

The US Congress has extended the Act numerous times since it first expired in 2011.

On December 1, 2016, ISA was extended for a further ten years.

“The United States, Israel, and our Arab partners remain concerned about the looming threat that a nuclear Iran poses to the stability of the region,” said Senator Scott in a statement on Friday.

He added that US sanctions are a necessary deterrent for this dangerous and unstable regime, which is why the bill will make the cornerstone of sanctions on Iran permanent.

For her part, Rosen argued that the 1996 bill “helped bring Iran to the negotiating table”, and that the new legislation “ensures we maintain the full range of our economic and diplomatic tools to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.”

Last Tuesday, Senator Hagerty issued a statement to announce his support for the bill.

“As Iran increases its nuclear and ballistic missile threats and its support for terrorism and militancy in the Middle East, the United States should not ease sanctions and make it easier for the regime to continue its malign behavior,” he said.

Also, Senator Hassan stressed that this bipartisan legislation is important for restraining Iran's ability to pursue weapons and technology that threaten the US national security.

In 1996, ISA allowed the president to impose secondary sanctions on Iran’s energy sector.

Throughout the years, ISA provisions were expanded to include other Iranian industries.

In 2010, the Act was amended to require the United States to slap sanctions on foreign companies that invest more than $20 million a year in Iran's oil or gas sector.

The bipartisan bill comes as the US and Iran appear to be close to a nuclear deal, after the European Union sent a final offer for reaching a deal on nuclear talks that started between both sides 16 months ago.

Iran responded to the text, and reportedly asked for reassurances that the US respects Tehran’s red lines.

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Iran Discloses New Details of Israeli Attempt to Assassinate Heads of Three Govt. Branches

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 
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Iran Discloses New Details of Israeli Attempt to Assassinate Heads of Three Govt. Branches

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, on Saturday evening (Iranian Presidency) 

The Fars news agency on Sunday disclosed new details of an assassination attempt that targeted a high-level meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council attended by heads of the three government branches and high-ranking officials during the 12-day war between Tehran and Tel Aviv.

Iran has launched a comprehensive investigation into the assassination attempt, and there is suspicion that an agent was involved, informed sources told the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated news agency.

Fars said that in the attack, “some officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, suffered minor injuries to their legs while leaving the meeting,” and added that they escaped through “an emergency hatch that had been planned in advance.”

The speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, were also said to have been in the meeting.

According to Fars, the attack occurred on Monday, June 16, at the lower levels of a secure government facility in western Tehran.

Fars said the attack was modeled after an Israeli plan to assassinate Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, involving the launch of six bombs or missiles aimed at entry and exit points to block evacuation routes and disrupt ventilation.

Following the explosions, power was cut to the targeted floor. However, Iranian officials reportedly managed to escape through a pre-designated emergency hatch.

In an interview last week with Tucker Carlson, the political commentator, Pezeshkian accused Israel of trying to assassinate him but did not admit to having being injured. “They did try, yes... They acted accordingly, but they failed,” he said.

Hours after the Fars news agency published its report, a spokesman of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council told the Nour News agency that “the Israeli attack on a secret meeting of the Council at a highly protected site, attended by heads of authorities and senior military and political leaders, set a dangerous precedent and sounded the alarm about the possibility of a security breach and the need to strengthen protection at the highest levels.”

“The attack is a dangerous threat to Iran not only in its timing and location, but also in the fact that it targeted one of the most secret and important meetings of the Iranian state,” the news agency wrote.

Vahid Jalili, the chief for cultural affairs and policy evolution at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and the brother of Saeed Jalili, Khamenei’s representative in the Supreme National Security Council, was the first to speak about the attack.

He said the meeting of heads of the government branches on June16 was targeted by Israeli attacks just hours before the missile strike on the broadcasting building.

In a related development, the wife of Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Iran during the 12-day war, said her husband received a phone call from his workplace, and headed there before he was killed.

In an interview with the Jamaran website, affiliated to the Khomeini Foundation, she said “Amir returned home from a ceremony, slept for about half an hour, before receiving the phone call.”

She added, “Our house was attacked after the dawn prayer.”