IranHouse mulls Syria-related sanctions on Iran

One of many Syrian and Iranian leaders' meetings // Source: syrianoor.net

U.S. House legislators are considering new terrorism-related sanctions on Iran, targeting the country’s support for Hezbollah, after ceding to the Obama administration’s request to back off on sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program. The House Foreign Affairs Committee hopes the move will reflect their independence from the White House and also bring more focus to the Syrian crisis. “I think it’s important to make the point that it’s not all hugs and kisses. Hezbollah could not exist without the support of Iran,” Representative Eliot Engel (D-New York), told Al-Monitor. “Hezbollah continues to be a terrorist organization; it has turned the tide of the civil war in Syria in favor of Assad,” he said. “And to me, it’s one of the ironies, I guess, of the fact that at a time when we’re sitting and negotiating with Iran over their nuclear program, they continue to do mischief with terrorist groups like Hezbollah. It irks me.”

The proposed bill may be modeled after the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2010, which targets individuals and firms involved in Iran’s energy sector. Al-Monitor notes that the bill could target Lebanese and European banks, but legislators are careful to make sure the sanctions would not hurt U.S. allies or undermine U.S. priorities. The European Union classifies Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization, but not its political or charitable divisions.

Lawmakers are now trying to find the most effective way to disrupt Iran’s financial support of Hezbollah. “There’s plenty of stuff out there if you wanted to look at banks, if you wanted to look at exchange houses, if you wanted to look at hawaladars, if you wanted to look at front companies,” said Matthew Levitt, a former Treasury Department official who has advised Congress on the issue. “I think that the people who are talking it through are really, right now, just talking it through and trying to come up with what would be the types of targets that would make a difference.” Levitt insists that lawmakers should focus on the channels through which Hezbollah receives direct funding from Iran.

Earlier this month, the House sent a bipartisan letter signed by 394 members of Congress to President Barack Obama, detailing lawmakers’ expectations for a nuclear deal with Iran but declaring that Iran’s behavior on other issues continue to raise concerns. “Although the P5+1 process is focused on Iran’s nuclear program, we remain deeply concerned by Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism, its horrendous human rights record, its efforts to destabilize its neighbors, its pursuit of intercontinental ballistic missiles and its threats against our ally, Israel, as well as the fates of American citizens detained by Iran,” the letter states. “We want to work with you to address these concerns as part of a broader strategy of dealing with Iran.”

Engel has been vocal about his distrust of Iran to live up to demands of a nuclear agreement. “As I’ve always said, I hope these negotiations work — I hope they go well — that in six months we have a nice agreement. I have my doubts, but I hope I’m proven wrong. But I still don’t trust the Iranians acting in good faith. If they were acting in good faith, they wouldn’t be enriching while we’re having negotiations and they wouldn’t be siccing their terrorist organization Hezbollah on the rest of the world.”

The White House has not publicly responded to the proposed legislation, but experts familiar with the matter are worried that the legislation may interfere with the nuclear talks. Levitt said that the Obama administration could have a “whole lot more tolerance for it because it’s not related to the nuclear program at all. But you can imagine there would be some who would probably not want to see it right now if it has anything to do with Iran at all.”