Senate moves toward passing new Iran sanctions, as Graham offers deal on nuclear pact vote

FILE: Oct. 14, 2014: Video cameras at a news conference between EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Vienna. (REUTERS)

South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that he would set aside efforts to impose more sanctions on Iran if President Obama allows Congress to vote on a final deal with that country over its nuclear program.

“I’m willing to forgo that vote with the understanding that any deal he negotiates will come to the Congress for our approval or disapproval as a check and balance,” Graham said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Imposing sanctions on Iran to force the country to curtail its nuclear enrichment program, presumably to build a nuclear weapon, has bipartisan support in Congress.

This weekend, Senate staffers confirmed with Fox News some details about upcoming legislation sponsored by Illinois GOP Sen. Mark Kirk and New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

They said the legislation supports international negotiations with Iran, provides a diplomatic insurance policy if the talks fail and that no new sanctions will be imposed if a deal is reached.

The committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on possible new penalties against Tehran, amid calls from President Obama for Congress to wait as negotiations near two key deadlines.  

The United States and five other world powers are trying to reach a framework agreement with Iran by March and hope to complete a longer-term deal by June 30 that would limit Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

Secretary of State John Kerry has stepped up talks with Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, and they may hold further discussions this week when both are expected to attend the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Graham described congressional efforts as signaling to the Iranians that “we would like a political negotiation, a diplomatic solution. But please understand in Iran that the Congress is intent on reapplying sanctions if you walk away from the negotiating table and if you cheat.”

Graham also said: “I don’t think that’s a disruptive message.”

White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer told NBC that Graham “would like to make all the foreign policy decisions of the United States and be commander in chief. … It’s the president’s authority.”

Pfeiffer added, “It does not make any sense for Congress to scuttle that deal … because that would put America in a bad place, not just in dealing with Iran but with the world.”

The White House will continue to consult with Congress, he said.

Obama said at a news conference Friday that imposing new sanctions probably would doom the nuclear negotiations and heighten prospects of a military showdown. “Just hold your fire,” the president pleaded to Congress, while also issuing the veto threat.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was visiting Washington last week, said he was calling senators to convey the message that new penalties would hurt international unity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Senate moves toward passing new Iran sanctions, as Graham offers deal on nuclear pact vote

Police say human remains could be missing UVA student Hannah Graham - VIDEO: Remains sent to Richmond to be identified

Police say human remains found Saturday in Virginia could be those of missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham – who was last seen on Sept. 13.

Further forensic tests are needed to confirm whether the remains are those of Hannah Graham, Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo told a news conference. The remains were found on an abandoned property in southern Albemarle County by a search team from the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, Longo said. They are being transported to Richmond for identification.

“Right now we have the discovery of human remains and a great deal of work ahead of us,” said Col. Steve Sellers, Albemarle County Police chief. “We cannot and will not jump to any conclusions regarding today’s discovery. I ask for the public’s patience as we move forward and pursue what is now a new, ongoing death investigation.”

Authorities are asking anyone who recalls seeing any suspicious activity or vehicles in the area of Old Lynchburg Road in Charlottesville – where the remains were found – to contact the Albemarle County Police Department at 434-296-5807.

Thousands of volunteers had searched for the 18-year-old Graham in the weeks since her disappearance.

Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 32, has been charged with abduction with intent to defile Graham. A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 4 on the charge. In the meantime, Matthew is being held in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

Police officials Saturday afternoon had blocked the road leading to the site where the remains were found.

Surveillance videos captured some of what Graham did the night she vanished. Authorities say she met friends at a restaurant for dinner Sept. 12 before stopping by two parties at off-campus housing units. She left the second party alone and eventually texted a friend saying she was lost, authorities said.

She can be seen walking unsteadily and even running at times, past a pub and a service station and then onto a seven-block pedestrian strip that includes the Tempo Restaurant.

Tempo Restaurant owner Brice Cunningham has said Graham appeared to be incapacitated as she walked away with Matthew. Police have said they have no reason to believe she and Matthew knew each other before their encounter.

Matthew, an operating room technician at the university’s hospital who sometimes drives a taxi, had been drinking at the bar earlier that night before he encountered Graham, Cunningham has said.

A week after Graham went missing, Longo publicly described Matthew in detail without naming him, saying investigators wanted to talk to the “person of interest” and had searched his apartment because he was the last person to see her.

Matthew showed up at police headquarters, asked for a lawyer, and then sped away, according to a police account. His exit prompted a warrant for “reckless driving,” a charge that Longo cited as he named the suspect and appealed for information from anyone who saw him with Graham the night she disappeared.

Matthew was arrested a few days later in Galveston, Texas.

While Matthew was a fugitive in Texas, Virginia police added a charge of abduction with intent to defile, a violent felony that under Virginia law compels suspects to submit to DNA testing.

Very quickly thereafter, Virginia State Police announced a “forensic link” to Harrington’s killing. That case, in turn, has been linked by DNA evidence since 2012 to the rape of a woman in Fairfax, Virginia, who survived after a passer-by startled her attacker, the FBI has said.

Following Matthew’s arrest, Christopher Newport University released a statement noting that he had been named in a police file involving a Sept. 7, 2003 sexual assault on the Newport News campus. Matthew was a student there from January 2003 through Oct. 15, 2003.

Matthew had transferred to CNU after three years at Liberty University, where he also was briefly on the football team.

When he was at Liberty University, he was accused of raping a student on campus. That charge was dropped when the person declined to move forward with prosecution, Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Doucette said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Police say human remains could be missing UVA student Hannah Graham - VIDEO: Remains sent to Richmond to be identified