January 13, 2014 | Quote
U.S., Iran Advance Interim Nuclear Deal Amid Sanctions Debate
Critics of the deal with Iran over its nuclear program said they still want to enact legislation with delayed-trigger sanctions after the United States, Tehran and a group of other countries reached an agreement on implementing the deal over the weekend.
But the deal could also give some Democrats pause about backing a sanctions effort that has triggered a White House veto threat.
On Sunday, Iran and a group of countries known as P5+1 arrived at a “Joint Plan of Action” that goes into effect Jan. 20. In exchange for some sanctions relief — estimated by the administration at $7 billion — Iran will begin reducing its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium, halting the installation or start-up of additional centrifuges, dismantling some enrichment infrastructure and allowing new and more frequent inspections.
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Added Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies: “The JPA implementation deal is further proof for Congress, whose tough sanctions got Iran to the table in the first place, that their bipartisan approach to ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran is enhancing U.S. negotiating leverage.” Dubowitz has estimated the value of the short-term sanctions relief at a much higher number than $7 billion.