The White House has dismissed reports that President Barack Obama might be seeking to avoid the US congress vote on lifting anti-Iran sanctions.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz described those reports first appeared on the New York Times as “preposterous”, the Hill quoted him as saying on Monday.
The Hill is well-known for its focus on US policy, politics and election campaigns and is read by many American lawmakers and officials in the White House.
“This is an issue where we talk to Congress intensively,” Schultz added. “We will continue to consult with Congress heavily.”
The New York Times in an article entitled “Obama Sees an Iran Deal That Could Avoid Congress” that was published on Monday said five weeks ahead of the November 24 target date to reach a deal between Iran and the major powers over Tehran’s nuclear program, the administration would use its executive authority to roll back many economic sanctions unilaterally, without lawmakers’ approval.
Writer of the article David E. Sanger, the paper’s chief Washington correspondent, also said while many consider a possible agreement with Iran as Obama’s “most important foreign policy deal” of his presidency, at the same time “Many members of Congress see the plan (to avoid congress vote) as an effort by the administration to freeze them out.”
The New York Times correspondent added some Israeli officials also see a congressional vote “as the best way to constrain the kind of deal that Mr. Obama might strike.”
According to the Hill, US lawmakers reacted angrily to the Times story, suggesting that the White House could face opposition to any such maneuver.
The White House spokesman also acknowledged that the permanent removal of such sanctions would require a congressional vote, adding that it is “way too early to speculate on which sanctions will require legislative versus executive action to suspend or lift.”
