Hillary Clinton calls for US Congress to renew Iran Sanctions Act

US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at the American Legion Convention August 31, 2016 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (AFP photo)

The campaign of US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has called for Congress to renew the expiring Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) without adding additional measures to it.

Jesse Lehrich, a spokesman for Clinton, told The Hill newspaper in a statement on Thursday that “Hillary Clinton supports a clean reauthorization of the Iran Sanctions Act and believes Congress should get this done in short order when they return from recess.”

 “She has always made clear that while the historic deal passed last year represents a crucial step forward toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, we must proceed with a 'distrust and verify' approach,” he said.

“Maintaining the infrastructure to immediately snap back sanctions if Iran violates the terms of the deal is essential. Congress should put partisanship aside and send the president a clean ISA reauthorization bill for his signature,” he added.

Clinton and some Democrats are seeking to renew the Iran Sanctions Act which is expiring at the end of this year. Meanwhile, most of the Republican lawmakers are trying their best to reauthorize and impose more sanctions on Tehran on the pretext of terrorism, human rights issues, and ballistic missile tests.

The Obama administration has advised the Republican-dominated Senate not to impose more sanctions on Iran after the historic nuclear agreement between Tehran and the six world powers.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France as well as Germany started implementation of the deal, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on January 16.

After JCPOA went into effect, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the Security Council and the US were lifted.

Iran in return has put some limitations on its nuclear activities. The nuclear agreement was signed on July 14, 2015 following two and a half years of intensive talks.

The illegal sanctions on Iran had been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In his statement on Thursday, Lehrich said that Clinton, if elected, would impose new sanctions against Iran if they were required. 

“As president, she will also continue to enforce, and strengthen as necessary, sanctions on Iran's support for terrorism, human rights abuses and ballistic missile activity," he said.

The Islamic Republic of Iran supports Islamic resistance movements, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which are fighting against Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian lands, but the United States describes Iran’s actions as “support for terrorism”.