US Senate sparing no effort to disrupt Iran nuclear deal

The Republican-controlled US Senate is taking new measures against Iran as part of attempts to undermine a seven-nation nuclear deal, backed by the administration of President Barack Obama.

Among them is an amendment by New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte to use a wide-ranging defense policy bill to impose more sanctions on Tehran.

Filed Wednesday, the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) targets Iran’s ballistic missile programs and would also extend the Iran Sanctions Act up to 2031 instead of the end of the current year.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in March that the Iranian missile program “is totally for peaceful purposes and no measure can strip the Islamic Republic of Iran of its legitimate and legal right to boost its defensive capabilities and [safeguard] national security.”

Backed by 18 Republicans, the new measure in the Senate is an attack on the Democratic-held White House.

"Instead of reportedly sweetening sanctions relief, the Obama administration must make good on its promise to use the tools at its disposal to react to Iran's bad behavior," said Colorado Senator Cory Gardner, one of the backers of the amendment.

Under the nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers, limits were put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions.

The new amendment, however, is just one of the measures taken against Tehran.

Since the US Senate failed to block the agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it has spared no efforts to disrupt it by various measures, including an attack on Obama’s deputy national security advisor for strategic communication, Ben Rhodes as well as an attempt to ban US purchase of heavy water from Tehran.

The Senate’s number two Republican, Texas Senator John Cornyn is filing an amendment to sanction Iranian officials for the arrest of 10 US Marines who had trespassed on Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf and released later after the Americans apologized in January.

Cornyn, however, says the Obama administration should hold Iran accountable for the move.

"When one of our Navy's boats is innocently transiting across Iranian waters and is not engaged in military activity or taking any other action that would prejudice the peace and security of Iran, it's against the law... to stop, board and seize that vessel," Cornyn said.

This is while the Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said at the time that the American forces had embarked on “illegal and unpermitted entry” into Iran’s territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whose 2016 campaign for president was crushed by Donald Trump, is also engaged in a measure to block the US Defense Department from signing any contracts with Iran and its friends.

The measures run counter to the spirit of the JCPOA, finalized by Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - in Vienna on July 14, 2015.

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