AJC Praises Senate Committee Adoption of Iran Sanctions Bill

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Jan 29, 2015, 05:06 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC praised the U.S. Senate Banking Committee for passing, with strong bipartisan support, a bill that will set the stage to impose additional economic sanctions on Iran if current negotiations on its nuclear program fail to yield a permanent agreement.

"Tehran must hear loud and clear from Washington that its traditional delaying tactics are no longer acceptable," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "It is important to tee-up this measure, with broad backing by both Democrats and Republicans, in case sanctions against Iran need to be reinforced and strengthened should the P5+1 not achieve an accord that blocks Iran from attaining nuclear weapons capability."

Negotiators from the P5+1 nations – China, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. -- have set March 24 as a deadline for establishing a political framework that would lead to concluding a permanent accord by June 30.

The bill, the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2015, introduced by Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), and co-sponsored by 35 Senators from both sides of the aisle, is not expected to come up for a Senate vote until late March, at the earliest.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee