US House struggles to block Iran deal

OREANDA-NEWS. September 10, 2015. Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives are scrambling – almost certainly in vain - to block President Barack Obama from implementing the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Knowing supporters of the nuclear accord have enough votes in the US Senate to reject the agreement the US and other global powers reached with Iran to trade nuclear concessions for oil and petrochemical sanctions, House Republicans abruptly switched tactics today.

Rather than join the Senate in an effort to pass a resolution of disapproval, the Republican-controlled House tomorrow is expected to pass a non-binding resolution to express the House's sense that Obama has not lived up to the requirement that the administration turn over all documents related to the nuclear agreement. Lawmakers have been highly critical of the administration's failure to turn over documents pertaining to the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA's agreements with Tehran.

Under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, lawmakers have 60 days to take action to reject or approve the agreement. That 60-day window has long been recognized to end on 17 September. But House Republicans are now asserting that the 60-day countdown has not begun, since the White House has not produced the IAEA documents.

Representative Peter Roskam (R-Illinois), co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, said administration officials made an assertion in July that they had complied with a legal requirement to turn over all documents related to the nuclear agreement. "The new information made it very obvious they have not complied with the law," Roskam said today, following a Republican caucus meeting called to discuss strategy related to the Iran deal.

Then, on 11 September, the House will vote on a binding, resolution of approval of the deal. That measure will almost certainly fail, but the vote will put Democrats on record supporting the president on what Republicans believe is an unpopular agreement.

The House will approve a separate binding measure that would bar Obama from lifting sanctions imposed on Iran.

House Republicans also are considering filing a lawsuit to challenge Obama's authority to proceed with the nuclear deal.

The House's maneuvers come after supporters of the nuclear agreement mustered enough votes in the Senate to ensure that chamber cannot pass a measure to kill the deal. With 42 senators announcing they back the agreement, supporters of the deal have enough votes to filibuster a Republican-backed resolution of disapproval in the upper chamber.

Since the Senate is moving forward with a different approach, the House's actions are not likely to stall the nuclear deal.

For weeks Republicans and the Israeli government have blasted the 14 July agreement US and its P5+1 negotiating partners, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China, reached with Iran. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) warned the deal would grant Iran access to billions of dollars now locked up because of sanctions. "The president himself has acknowledged that at least some of that cash windfall is likely to be used to support terrorism," McConnell said.

EU and US sanctions have limited Iran's crude exports to 1.1mn b/d, down from about 2.5mn b/d before they were imposed in 2012. Six countries — China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey — were allowed to keep buying oil from Iran. Iran produced 2.86mn b/d in August, down from 2.88mn b/d in July, making it Opec's fourth largest oil producer.