US will not ‘ease up’ on Iran sanctions

A number of American senators have agreed to delay a sanctions bill against Iran as long as President Barack Obama promises not to “ease up” on the sanctions already in place, a commentator tells Press TV.

“What they have in fact agreed to is that they would withhold imposing further sanctions on Iran for sixty days as long as Obama promises not to… ease up on the sanctions,” Soraya Sepahpour Ulrich, an independent researcher and writer from Los Angeles said on Saturday.

In a closed-door briefing on Thursday, senior White House officials, including Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, urged the senators to hold off on a new package of sanctions on Iran.

Not every senator who participated in the meeting was swayed but the Senate Banking Committee would reportedly delay plans for drafting a new sanctions bill next week.

Sepahpour Ulrich dismissed the move as a publicity attempt that would make it appear Washington is making concessions towards Iran while preserving the unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

“So in reality nothing has been gained here. It is just what’s been wrapped and presented to the public, that it would seem as if the Obama administration, Kerry and a few senators are making concessions.”

She said that Israel lobby had a hand in this arrangement. “The Israelis and their lobby groups control America’s foreign poliy100 percent.”

AIPAC, the most powerful Israeli lobby in the US, has recently sent a memo to members of Congress, insisting that Iran does not have the right to enrich uranium.