MP Urges Caution in Response to US Provocations

A lawmaker has called for restraint and caution in reacting to a sanctions bill passed by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

"It is obvious how the Islamic Republic will respond to the measure. We should wait until the JCPOA panel convenes. We need to exercise  patience and self-restraint and avoid any rash decision," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said in a talk with ICANA on Saturday.

He was referring to the official title of the Iran 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The landmark agreement has been in force since January 2016 to lift international sanctions in return for scaling back Tehran's nuclear program.

A committee, formally called the Joint Commission, has been set up under the accord by representatives from all the parties, to monitor it and look into disputes that might arise from its implementation.

  Provocative

Falahatpisheh said the bill is part of a US provocative plot to lure the Islamic Republic into a conflict with the international community.

"The Americans intend to raise a challenge against Iran in the global arena, while the only country with which Iran has issues is the US and [these issues] have nothing to do with JCPOA but rather concern missile and regional matters."

The bill imposes new sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile development, support for resistance groups and alleged weapons transfers and human rights violations.

The vote was 18-3 in favor of the legislation, paving the way for its consideration by the full Senate.

Before the voting, officials of the former US administration had succeeded in altering two sections of the original bill they deemed risky through a well-coordinated public and private messaging campaign.

  Change in Language

The amended legislation changes language that would impose sanctions on anyone the president determines "poses a risk of materially contributing" to Iran's ballistic missile program, to anyone who "knowingly" contributes to the program. The original description, critics argued, was overly broad and would have been difficult to enforce.

Lawmakers also reworded a section that would have created new conditions for lifting some ballistic missile sanctions that are set to expire in seven years as part of the nuclear deal.

The original wording risked violating the nuclear deal by changing the terms of sanctions relief, critics said.

The only recommendation from former president Barack Obama staffers that failed to make its way into the amended bill was the removal of language that imposes sanctions reserved for global terrorist groups on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.