Senate GOP Says Democrats Support Iran Sanctions

Republican senators will press ahead with a bill that would increase sanctions on Iran as a backstop to negotiations and said no Democrats have abandoned the effort despite lobbying by President Obama.

“We still have 59 co-sponsors on the sanctions bill,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Barrasso said he spoke to committee chairman, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., “and he's fully supportive” of seeking a vote on the bill.

“We're going to try to attach it to every vote that comes up before the Senate,” Barrasso said. “That plan is not changing.”

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Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, disagrees. The bill is “carefully drafted so it provides flexibility the administration needs to peacefully resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis in a way that doesn't give Iran a nuclear weapons breakout capacity,” Dubowitz said.

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