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

US Ambassador calls sanctions on St Lucia police force “regrettable”

C – US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Ambassador William R. Brownfield

CASTRIES, St Lucia, Monday June 30, 2014, CMC - US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Ambassador William R. Brownfield, has expressed regret over the suspension of assistance from the United States to the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF).

Last year the US Department of State announced a policy decision to withdraw training and material assistance to the RSLPF due to ‘credible allegations’ of gross human rights violations.

“Do I regret that we are in this position, of course I do,” Brownfield said last week.

He, however, made clear that his regret cut ‘both ways’.

“I regret even more the actions and activities by some – by no means all, that have somehow contaminated the entire institution and I hope we are able to work our way through this complicated set of issues,” Brownfield said.

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According to him, failure to do so would make not only the US, but the people of St Lucia and the entire Caribbean suffer.

However Ambassador Brownfield observed that his country is limited by law in terms of the cooperation it can offer and engage in with law enforcement institutions against which there are credible grounds to believe they have engaged in gross human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings.

“This is not a matter of flexibility or discretion for us, as once the determination is made we are then required to suspend cooperation until such time as that evidence is clarified to the contrary, or the affected agency or organisation has taken steps to clear up whatever activity may have caused the concern to begin with,” Brownfield noted.

A team from the Jamaica Constabulary Force has been conducting an independent investigation into at least 12 alleged extra-judicial killings by St Lucia Police between 2010 and 2011, during the administration of the then United Workers Party (UWP).

The length of time the investigation has taken has been criticised by both St Lucia’s Police Commissioner, Vernon Francois, and Human Rights Activist, Mary Francis, but the St Lucia government has said it would not compromise a thorough investigation for the sake of speed.

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US Ambassador calls sanctions on St Lucia police force “regrettable”