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Lawmakers: Kerry floats new sanctions on Iran

The secretary of state has told lawmakers that passing triggered sanctions could help get a nuclear deal.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a joint news conference in Cairo June 22, 2014. Kerry said on Sunday the United States wanted Iraqis to find an inclusive leadership to contain a sweeping Islamist insurgency but Washington would not pick or choose who rules in Baghdad. Kerry was speaking at the start of a Middle East tour after talks in Cairo with Egypt's new President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi which covered Western concerns over Egypt's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and the fallout of the
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US Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers July 17 that passing new triggered sanctions on Iran might help unlock a nuclear deal, a complete reversal from the policy of the President Barack Obama administration until now, several House Democrats of different ideological stripes told Al-Monitor.

Kerry made the remarks at a State Department meeting with a group of Jewish lawmakers who are regularly briefed on issues pertaining to Israel. He discussed the likely need for an extension of the negotiations of up to four months as well as the Israel-Gaza conflict. He made it clear that he was just floating ideas, several lawmakers said, and had not gotten Obama to sign off on them.

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