"President Barack Obama will veto a Republican-sponsored bill which the administration says will prevent the United States from meeting its obligations under the nuclear deal struck between Iran and world powers, the White House warned Monday.
The bill, the Iran Terror Finance Transparency Act, authored by Republican Congressman Steve Russell, passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week and was expected to reach the House floor Wednesday.
Lawmakers were to vote on the bill as American sanctions on Iran were set to be lifted in the coming weeks as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached in July. Under the deal, the United States is required to lift its nuclear-related sanctions against Iran after the International Atomic Energy Agency certifies that Tehran has completed all of its initial obligations.
According to its author, the bill 'would not allow the President to remove Iranian individuals and entities from the list maintained by the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the Treasury unless the Administration can certify the entity is not a terror financier, human rights abuser, or involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.' It would also provide Congress with what Russell described as 'advanced oversight,' requiring quarterly reports from the administration regarding the sanctions regime...
In its statement released Monday evening, the White House noted that the administration 'strongly opposes' the bill, which, it warned, 'would prevent the United States from implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by tying the Administration's ability to fulfill US commitments under the deal to unrelated, non-nuclear issues.'..."