US to vote on new sanctions bill that punishes Iran

The US House of Representatives will today vote on a bill that will slap new sanctions against Iran. The legislation, whose primary target is Russia, will also punish Iran and North Korea.

The bill includes sanctions against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which stands accused of supporting terrorism, and North Korea, for its missile tests.

Efforts to impose new sanctions on Iran have been ongoing but US legislators failed to agree on the details of the text. Last month the US Senate, which is the upper chamber of the Congress, voted 98-2 in favour of tough sanctions on Moscow and Tehran, but the text stalled in the House of Representatives.

The new legislation is thought to be the result of a congressional compromise reached over the weekend and is aimed at punishing Kremlin for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. The US Congress, whose main objective seems to be to tie the US Presidents hand over relations with Russia, however agreed to adopt an extended version of the bill that penalises Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which stands accused of supporting terrorism.

Read: Iran skips opportunity to upset nuclear deal over US sanctions

A week ago, President Donald Trump certified Iran’s compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal, but it wasn’t enough to dissuade legislators in Washington from wanting to push through fresh new sanctions on individuals, groups and entities, which they claim are involved in terrorist activities.

Iran has said that it will set up a new commission to counter any new sanctions saying that it is in violation of the of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal that was agreed in 2015.