US lawmakers seek Congress role on Iran nuclear deal

A large group of bipartisan US lawmakers have urged President Barack Obama to involve the Congress in any decision to provide Iran with sanctions relief as part of a possible P5+1 nuclear deal with Tehran.

In a letter to Obama released on Thursday, over three-quarters of US legislators in the House of Representatives said the White House must have “greater consultations” with Congress on any offer to dismantle anti-Iran bans under a potential nuclear accord between Tehran and six world powers.

The letter was signed by 344 out of the chamber’s 435 members, including both Republican and Democrat lawmakers.

The report comes as Iran and the six world powers – Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany – are holding extensive closed-door discussions to narrow their differences and reach a final deal on Tehran’s nuclear energy program as a July 20 deadline approaches.

On July 3, negotiators from Iran and the six states officially opened their sixth round of talks this year in the Austrian capital of Vienna to discuss drafting a final agreement aimed at ending the decade-old dispute over the Islamic Republic’s civilian nuclear activities.

The US State Department has announced that US Secretary of State John Kerry would travel to the Austrian capital to attend the negotiations.

Last August, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports and other economic sectors, including mining and automobile industries.

However, a similar measure died in the US Senate late last year when Obama said he would veto the anti-Iran sanctions bill after Tehran and the six states signed a historic interim nuclear in November 2013. Under the deal, which expires on July 20 but is extendable, Iran was offered some sanctions relief and in return limited its nuclear energy program.