Iran missile tests fuel sanctions push in Congress
Lawmakers demand response after latest rocket launches.
Congress is ramping up its efforts to slap new sanctions on Iran after the country said it conducted multiple ballistic missile launches in defiance of US and international sanctions.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., met with his aides hours after the March 8 announcement to discuss the potential content and timing of legislative action. He and panel member Robert Menendez, D-N.J., have been working for the past month on multi-pronged sanctions legislation and said the latest reports out of Tehran were an incentive to kick things up a notch.
"It just means that it's more urgent that we get unified American leadership and international support," agreed Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the panel, who introduced his own legislation on the issue last fall.
Congressional impatience is fueled in part by the Obama administration's perceived lack of response to the missile launches. The Treasury Department in January designated 11 entities and individuals linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program after Tehran conducted two tests last year, but lawmakers say the administration needs to be prodded to do more.
