A former senior US State Department official said he believes new sanctions legislation against Iran is “unnecessary”, noting that President Barack Obama will “very likely” veto any bill that would impose new sanctions on Iran. “If the Congress passes a new sanctions bill that the administration considers damaging to prospects for negotiations, President Obama is very likely to veto it,” Robert Einhorn wrote in a recent article published by the National Interest. “Senior administration officials would then go into overdrive in finding the 34 Senate votes necessary to sustain the veto,” said Einhorn, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Einhorn predicted that some Democrats will vote to override the veto, but it is “likely that the administration will have the votes to sustain the veto and prevent legislation potentially damaging to the negotiations from being enacted.” “While the Republican-controlled Congress will undoubtedly give the administration a tough time, it is likely that President Obama will be able, without legislative interference, to continue negotiating an agreement that he believes is in the US interest,” he said.
