U.S. House votes to renew sanctions against Iran, Syria's backers

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved bipartisan legislation to renew a decades-old Iran sanctions law and impose new sanctions on supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, RFE/RL reports.

The legislation passed quickly on a 419-1 vote, showing broad support on Capitol Hill for maintaining economic pressure on Tehran and punishing backers of the Syrian government.

The bills were sponsored by the Republican chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Ed Royce, and the committee's top Democrat, Representative Eliot Engel.

The Senate must now act on the legislation before the bills can be sent to the president.

The Iran Sanctions Extensions Act authorizes the United States to punish Tehran should the country fail to live up to the terms of the landmark nuclear deal reached last year.

In exchange for Iran rolling back its nuclear program, the United States and other world powers agreed to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade, and financial sanctions that had choked the Iranian economy.

"Now is not the time to ease up on the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism," said Republican Representative Leonard Lance. "Sanctions work."

The act, first passed by Congress in 1996 and renewed several times since then, expires at the end of the year. The bill approved by the House extends the law by 10 years, to 2026.

There is widespread support in the Senate for passing the extension and the White House signaled earlier this year that President Barack Obama would sign it.