"As Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill focus on a last-ditch effort to prevent the Obama administration from awarding Iran $100 billion, the Islamic Republic's leaders have stated that economic sanctions on the country will be fully lifted in the coming days.
President Hassan Rouhani, in a recent address, promised 'good news' in the next few days, hinting that the Obama administration will make good on its promise to fully lift economic sanctions and provide Iran with up to $100 billion in unfrozen cash assets as part of the nuclear deal finalized last year.
Rouhani's comments comport with recent remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry, who claimed last week that Iran is just 'days away' from upholding its own end of the deal, which required it to ship certain nuclear materials to Russia.
As Iran prepares to receive the cash influx, which experts say will revive the country's long-stalled economy, Republican lawmakers in Congress are focusing on last-minute efforts to block the Obama administration from releasing these cash assets and unraveling sanctions on individuals who have aided Tehran's nuclear weapons program.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) along with a growing coalition of colleagues in both the House and Senate, has put forward legislation that would stop sanctions relief until the Obama administration can officially verify that Iran has ceased all work on a nuclear weapon.
The bill would require the director of national intelligence to launch an investigation into this activity and submit a report to Congress. All sanctions relief agreed to by the Obama administration would be blocked until this report is complete, according to the bill.
The lawmakers maintain that an ongoing United Nations investigation into this activity remains incomplete due to stalling efforts by Iranian hardliners who seek to keep the country's military work a secret.
'Given the glaring deficiencies of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) PMD report and Iran's continued brazen missile tests and rocket launches, Congress must take serious action to protect the American people,' Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kansas), a key sponsor of the House version of the bill and member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said...
Congressional critics of the nuclear deal have repeatedly warned that Iran-designated by the United States as one of the world's leading sponsors of terrorism-will use the newly unfrozen cash assets to fund its military operations and pursuit of ballistic missiles.
The White House still has not disclosed why it abandoned recent efforts to impose new sanctions on Iran as a result of its multiple ballistic missile tests, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions..."