Iranian MP warns US legislature to avoid new sanctions against Iran

Rapporteur of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini warned the US Senate and Congress against the imposition of new sanctions against Iran. “The US Senate and Congress should avoid adventurism which will halt the implementation of (Geneva) agreement,” Naqavi Hosseini said on Monday. He noted that according to the last night agreement between the teams of experts from Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) the Geneva agreement will take effect as of January 20. “The message of the implementation of the Geneva 3 agreement to the US Congress and Senate is that they are not allowed to approve new sanctions against Iran and if it happens Iran will have the right to unilaterally refrain from implementing the agreement,” the senior Iranian legislator said. On November 24, Iran and the Group 5+1 sealed a six-month Joint Plan of Action in Geneva to lay the groundwork for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program. In exchange for Tehran’s confidence-building bid to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the Sextet of world powers agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Tehran and continue talks with the country to settle all problems between the two sides. Iran and the six world powers agreed on Sunday to start implementing the Geneva interim nuclear deal on January 20, senior Iranian negotiators announced, adding that the two sides have agreed to fulfill their undertakings simultaneously and on a single day. On Sunday, US President Barrack Obama said he would veto the anti-Iran sanctions bill if Congress passes such legislation. "Imposing additional sanctions now will only risk derailing our efforts to resolve this issue peacefully, and I will veto any legislation enacting new sanctions during the negotiation," Obama said. President Barack Obama also said the United States and other nations would begin to give Iran relief on economic sanctions as long as Iran lives up to its end of an agreement reached on Sunday to start implementing a nuclear deal.