A key panel of Congress is getting closer to slapping new sanctions on Iran's revolutionary guards despite warnings that doing so could undermine the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Individual lawmakers over the past few months have introduced several bills encouraging the Obama administration to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization, with little traction so far. But now the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, has begun to coalesce behind the scenes around a similar effort.

"The issue is what's the best way to get at those individuals, those entities that are essentially IRGC-controlled but look for ways to suggest that they're not," said Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., the top Democrat on the committee's Middle East panel. "There are a lot of us who would like to move in that direction ... especially before there is sanctions relief granted under the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]."

A committee aide confirmed that staff-level discussions are ongoing but there’s not yet draft legislation.