A top US Senate Republican is shelving draft legislation that would have triggered nuclear-related sanctions back on Iran over its ballistic missile activity, acknowledging it cannot garner the 50 votes required for passage and would ostracize foreign allies.
Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, continues to work with members of his own party, Democrats, European envoys and the US administration hoping to construct legislation that will send a message of toughness to Tehran while keeping the nuclear accord intact, the Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.
But the amendment he initially previewed one month ago with Sen. Tom Cotton, alongside US President Donald Trump’s national address on Iran policy, will not advance as planned.
It is a setback for the Trump administration, which in its rollout of a comprehensive policy approach to Iran characterized Corker and Cotton’s bill as a “legislative remedy” to its concerns with the Iran nuclear deal.
The legislation would have amended the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act to effectively extend provisions of the Iran nuclear deal indefinitely in the eyes of US law.
