Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Senate Votes 99-0 To Extend Iran Sanctions

The U.S. Senate passed a 10-year extension of sanctions against Iran on Thursday, sending the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law and delaying any potentially tougher actions until next year.

The measure passed by 99-0. It passed the House of Representatives nearly unanimously in November, and congressional aides said they expected Obama would sign it.

The ISA will expire on Dec. 31 if not renewed. The White House had not pushed for an extension, but had not raised serious objections.

Members of Congress and administration officials said the renewal of the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) would not violate the nuclear agreement with Iran reached last year.

“While we do not think that an extension of ISA is necessary, we do not believe that a clean extension would be a violation of the JCPOA (Iran deal),” a senior administration official said.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said recently the extension would breach the agreement and threatened retaliation.

Democrats who backed the accord said they did not believe the ISA extension violated the pact because it continued a sanctions regime that was already in place. They said they had not heard such objections from U.S. partners.

“I have not heard strident objectives from our key allies in the JCPOA,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons told reporters.

The agreement was signed by the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, Germany and Iran.

Congress’ action did not address the fate of the nuclear pact, which was opposed by every Republican in the Senate and House. Lawmakers said it would make it easier for sanctions to be quickly reimposed if Iran violated the deal.

Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump railed against the pact as he campaigned for the White House. Many other members of his party, which also controls Congress, have called for the new administration to tear up the agreement.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said the renewal ensures Trump can reimpose sanctions Obama lifted under the deal, in which Iran curbed its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

“Extending the Iran Sanctions Act … ensures President-elect Trump and his administration have the tools necessary to push back against the regime’s hostile actions,” Corker said in a statement.

Trump becomes president on Jan. 20. Corker has been mentioned as a possible Trump Secretary of State

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.