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with the interim goal of finalizing a framework by March. "In these last days
in Vienna, we have made real and substantial progress," Kerry said. "That is
why we are jointly extending these talks."
However, many members of Congress who opposed the talks from the
beginning want to implement a new round of economic sanctions against
Tehran, which would expressly violate the terms of the interim agreement
between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United
States.
"We should work to pass tough sanctions now, and these sanctions should
go into effect immediately," said Rep. Brad Sherman, a hawkish, pro-Israel
Democrat from California. He was joined by a mlange of Republicans who
claim that a new round of U.S. sanctions would pressure Iran into making a
deal with the West -- a claim the administration says is exactly backward
and would cause Tehran to walk away from the talks.
"I hope [Congress] will come to see the wisdom of leaving us the
equilibrium for a few months to be able to proceed without sending
messages that might be misinterpreted and cause miscalculation," Kerry
said on Monday.
But top Republicans are flirting with moving new sanctions legislation
anyway. "One thing that could change Tehran's resistance to agreeing to a
meaningful and effective agreement to keep it from developing a nuclear
weapon is more economic pressure," stated House Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) on Monday.
"An extension this long opens the path for hard-liners in Washington and
Tehran to kill the deal by piling on impossible-to-meet demands," said
Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a nonproliferation
group. "Those who favor military strikes on Iran will now try to pave the way
with killer sanctions."
Although many congressional Democrats have recently shown an unusual
Observers say that request, widely derided as unrealistic, may have boxed
in Iranian negotiators in Vienna, who've continued to hit a wall with their
P5+1 counterparts, as the six countries negotiating with Iran are
collectively referred to.
Whether Khamenei will make concessions in the next seven months and
Congress can be persuaded against issuing new sanctions is anyone's
guess, but the longer a deal twists in the wind, the longer opponents have
to undermine and unravel it.
Posted by Thavam