Iran Sanctions Bill Delayed Till June

Laura Rozen reports that the Congress will be holding off on an Iran Sanctions Bill due to developments at the UN:

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Ca.),  the co-chairs of the Iran sanctions conference committee,  have agreed to slow down Congressional Iran sanctions until the end of June, given the progress the Obama administration has shown getting consensus from all the permanent members for a new United Nations Security Council resolution sanctioning Iran.

“We have always said that tough multilateral sanctions are the most effective means to persuade Iran to cease its efforts to develop a nuclear weapons capability," Berman and Dodd said in a press release today. "And we applaud the efforts of President Obama and his national security team to unite the other permanent members of the Security Council behind this urgent goal."

Noting that they were skeptical until the administration introduced a draft Iran sanctions bill that had the support of Russia and China to the full Security Council last week, Dodd and Berman added: "With the progress in negotiations at the Security Council, we believe that our overriding goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability is best served by providing a limited amount of time for those efforts – and expected follow-on action by the EU at its mid-June summit – to reach a successful conclusion before we send our bill to the President.”

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