![\"hn_kirk1_FNC_010511_12-300\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/01\/hn_kirk1_FNC_010511_12-300.jpg\" "\\"hn_kirk1_FNC_010511_12-300\\"")
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A U.S. Senate committee is expected to vote in the next few weeks on a bill authored by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and Republican Senator Mark Kirk that would increase sanctions on the Iranian regime if the nuclear negotiations fail.<\/p>\n
Republican lawmakers said on Thursday they are close to reintroducing legislation seeking a voice in negotiations over Iran\u2019s nuclear program and to imposing tougher sanctions against the regime, now that they control both houses of the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n
The Menendez-Kirk sanctions bill was introduced in December 2013, but did not come up for vote in the Senate when it was controlled by President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats. The White House insisted its passage could endanger international negotiations on Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
The United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China reached a preliminary agreement with Iran in 2013 for it to suspend its sensitive nuclear activity in return for easing some economic sanctions.<\/p>\n
The two sides failed to meet a self-imposed deadline for a second time in December and extended the preliminary accord by seven months. Frustrated U.S. lawmakers want Obama to be more forceful with Iran.
Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was working on a bill that would allow Congress to weigh in before Obama can implement any final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, American and Iranian negotiators will resume bilateral talks on the Iranian regime\u2019s nuclear program next week in Geneva as a third deadline for a deal looms, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
Acting Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman, who has led the U.S. delegation for more than two years, will head the team of senior officials and advisers to the next round of bilateral negotiations on January 15-17 in the Swiss city, the State Department said.
The Iranian regime\u2019s supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday voiced his distrust of Washington as he weighed the prospects of a complex nuclear deal.<\/p>\n
Speaking to a gathering in the city of Qum, Khamenei once again reminded that retreating in the nuclear program that his regime\u2019s survival hangs on will lead to successive retreats and the toppling of the regime.<\/p>\n
Khamenei said: \u201cFor the time being, the enemy is not targeting our ideals outright, but if we retreat, they will later target our ideals as well. Thus we have to be astute and comprehend the enemy\u2019s suggestions, rhetoric and actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calling Western countries the enemy, Khamenei added: \u201cNo one should think the enemy will abandon its ill intentions and animosity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khamenei said: \u201cI am not against negotiations. Go on and negotiate as much as you like, but I believe that we should lay our hope in promising and real points, not illusionary points.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A U.S. Senate committee is expected to vote in the next few weeks on a bill authored by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and Republican Senator Mark Kirk that would increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":42617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-17778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nuclear","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n