Obama warns about new Iran sanctions

President Barack Obama says the United States should not impose further sanctions against Iran “if we are serious” about seeking a final nuclear agreement.

“What I’ve said to members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, there is no need for new sanctions legislation. Not yet,” Obama told reporters during his year-end news conference at the White House on Friday.

The warning came one day after a group of bipartisan senators introduced new legislation to impose more sanctions against Iran despite a nuclear deal reached between Tehran and the world powers in Geneva last month.

On Thursday, 13 Democrats and 13 Republicans sponsored the new Senate bill.

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Robert Menendez and Sen. Mark Kirk wrote the bill, which proposes boycotting Iranian oil exports within a year and the blacklisting of Iran’s mining, engineering and construction industries.

Under the bill, more sanctions will be imposed if Iran breaches the terms of the Geneva deal and it calls for “diplomatic, military and economic support” to Israel in case Tel Aviv decides to launch an attack against Iran’s nuclear energy program.

Obama also called on Congress to give nuclear negotiations a chance to work.

“I’m not surprised there’s been talk from members of Congress about new sanctions,” the US president said.

“It’s not going to be hard for us to turn the dials back, strengthen the sanctions even further. I’ll work with members of Congress to put even more pressure on Iran,” Obama added.

The White House announced that President Obama would veto a new Iran sanctions bill introduced in the Senate on Thursday.

“Passing new sanctions legislation now will undermine our efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had warned that the Geneva agreement will be “dead” if Washington imposes additional sanctions.

“The entire deal is dead. We do not like to negotiate under duress. And if Congress adopts sanctions, it shows lack of seriousness and lack of a desire to achieve a resolution on the part of the United States,” Zarif said.