BICOM

In a rare display of bipartisan agreement on foreign policy, the US Senate yesterday voted overwhelmingly to impose new sanctions on Iran.

The Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017, authored by Senate Foreign Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and ranking Democrat members Ben Cardin and Bob Menendez, passed by a vote of 98-2. The Act would impose new mandatory sanctions against persons and entities involved in Iran’s ballistic missile programme and sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a renowned unit of Iran’s Armed Forces.

To become law, the legislation must pass the House of Representatives and be signed by the President Donald Trump.

The new sanctions do not interfere with the nuclear deal the P5+1 (the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany) agreed with Iran in 2015, but does try to fill in the gaps, particularly by cracking down on the missile programme and those involved in it.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said: “Iran is still the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are supporting groups that have toppled pro-Western governments throughout the Middle East. They have humiliated and unlawfully imprisoned American sailors on the high seas. And they continuously and flagrantly violate UN restrictions on their missile programme. These new sanctions will be a strong statement by the Congress and the Trump administration – that business as usual with Iran is over.”

Iran has conducted several ballistic missile tests since signing the 2015 nuclear agreement, including the test launch of a Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile in January. Such tests are a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1929, passed in 2010, that prohibits Iran from any ballistic missile development capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches which use ballistic missile technology.