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House Republican leaders want to attach a bill increasing sanctions on North Korea to legislation to restrain the president and stiffen punitive measures against Russia and Iran, a last-minute wrinkle that could further delay the bills progress through Congress.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on the House floor Friday that he believes the North Korea sanctions bill, which the House passed in May on a 419 to 1 vote, should be added to the legislation increasing sanctions against Russia and Iran.

It would be a very strong statement for all of America to get that sanction bill completed and done, and to the presidents desk, McCarthy said.

But Democrats are furious at the change, which they see as a last-minute effort by one of the presidents closest allies in Congress to derail the Russia-Iran sanctions bill just as congressional leaders had agreed on a way to resolve their differences.

Democrats are absolutely not in agreement with adding North Korea sanctions, said one House Democratic aide. This is another delay tactic. This is moving the goal posts again.

The Russia and Iran sanctions bill, which the Senate passed last month on a vote of 98 to 2, stalled as lawmakers argued over technical changes House Republicans leaders insisted were necessary to get the measure through their chamber. At issue was an alleged blue slip violation arising from the fact that bills affecting revenue must originate in the House and a disagreement over how lawmakers would be able to bring up measures to block the president should he ever try to scale back sanctions against Russia.

The bill codified existing sanctions against Russia, while stepping up punitive measures over its interference in Syria, Ukraine and the 2016 U.S. election; it also increases sanctions against Iran for recent ballistic missile tests. But critically, the bill would give Congress a 30-day window to check the president before he could make any changes to existing sanctions policy against Russia, including scaling back the punitive measure the United States has against Moscow.

The Trump administration has vocally objected to this provision, though they say they are otherwise comfortable with the increased sanctions under the bill. But lawmakers have been wary of the presidents warm approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Trumps reticence to endorse the intelligence communitys conclusion that Russia was behind a series of hacks and disinformation campaigns to swing the outcome of the 2016 election in Trumps favor. Many lawmakers are concerned that absent a congressional check on his authority, the president might try to scale back sanctions against Russia particularly by returningcontrol to Moscow of two compounds that the Obama administration wrested from Russia in late 2016 as punishment for alleged meddling in the 2016 campaign.

Earlier this week, Democrats objected that House Republicans were trying to prevent the minority from ever bringing up a resolution under the bill to block President Trump from making changes to sanctions policy, absent Republican approval. But as of Friday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats were ready to let their complaint go.

I dont like that, I want to protect the prerogatives of the minorities in the House, but weighing the equities, what was more important was passing the Russia-Iran sanctions bill, she said. So we are on board to just proceed.

House Democrats, who also voted overwhelmingly for the North Korea sanctions package this spring, could decide to attach the measure to the Russia-Iran bill. But doing so likely creates a serious hurdle for the bill in the Senate, where lawmakers have not examined the Houses North Korea sanctions bill and will probably want to consider a bipartisan sanctions measure of their own, unveiled by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) this week.

The senators measure would give Congress review power over any changes the president might try to make to North Korea sanctions policy that is almost identical to the review power over Russia sanctions written into the Russia-Iran bill. Congressional review is not a part of the Houses North Korea bill.

On Thursday, the chairs of the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations committees said they were still reviewing the senators North Korea bill, but were generally supportive of including congressional review power in such measures.

Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) also said Thursday that as he understood it, it was a possibility that House leaders might try to attach North Korea sanctions to the Russia-Iran package, but that the chances were slim probably a four-percenter, as he put it.

On Friday, Corker said that he would be more than glad to take a close look at tying North Korea sanctions to the Russia-Iran bill if this is the path they choose in the House.

There is no question that we need to apply more pressure to North Korea, he said.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), reacting to McCarthys proposal Friday, said: We want to get this done as soon as possible, and Im urging the majority to move quickly. Id be pleased if we could move next week.

House leaders have been frustrated that the Senate has not taken steps in the past two months to take up the Houses North Korea sanctions package.

Senators are not likely, however, to agree to approve comprehensive North Korea sanctions legislation without conducting some vetting first. And that could leave Congress at least at an impasse that, if it extends to the August recess, would mean that it could be months before any sanctions measures against Russia or North Korea proceed.

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House wants to link North Korea sanctions to measure on Russia and Iran sanctions - Washington Post

The Trump administration, delaying an anticipated confrontation with Iran until the completion of a long-awaited policy review, plans to recertify Tehrans compliance with the Obama-era nuclear deal, according to U.S. and foreign officials.

The recertification, due Monday to Congress, follows a heated internal debate between those who want to crack down on Iran now including some White House officials and lawmakers and Cabinet officials who are managing other constituencies such as European allies, and Russia and China, which signed and support the agreement, one senior U.S. official said.

As a candidate and president, Trump has said he would reexamine and possibly kill what he called the disastrous nuclear deal that was negotiated under President Barack Obama and went into effect in January last year. The historic agreement shut down most of Irans nuclear program, in some cases for decades, in exchange for an easing of international sanctions.

Under an arrangement Obama worked out with Congress, the administration must certify Iranian compliance with the terms of the accord every 90 days. If the administration denies certification, it can then decide to reinstitute sanctions that were suspended under the deal.

The Trump administration issued its first certification in April, when it also said it was awaiting completion of its review of the agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. The senior official, one of several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations, said the review should be completed before the next certification deadline in October.

(Gillian Brockell and Julio C. Negron/The Washington Post)

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations and other signatories have said repeatedly that Iran is complying with the agreement, under which the country dismantled most of its centrifuges and nuclear stockpile, shut down a plutonium production program and agreed to extensive international monitoring of all stages of the nuclear process.

[Frances Total bets big on Irans gas fields. American rivals watch from afar.]

Beyond disagreements over what supporters of the deal consider minor and quickly rectified infractions, and detractors assert are dealbreaking violations, there is broad consensus within the administration and Congress that Iran continues to participate in other prohibited activities not covered in the nuclear accord.

The question is how the United States should respond.

White House officials, including those charged with managing Iran policy within the National Security Council, believe Iran should be punished not only for nuclear violations, but also for its support of international terrorism and its development of ballistic-missile technology.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has statutory responsibility for certification, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have successfully argued that the nuclear deal should not be tied to punishments for those activities and that any nuclear-related action should await the review.

Officials cautioned that Trump, who has made clear his disdain for the accord, could decide not to sign off on the recertification between now and the Monday deadline but said that was unlikely. The decision to recertify was first reported Thursday by the Weekly Standard.

Next Tuesday, the administration must also comply with a separate deadline, reporting to Congress on Irans overall nuclear behavior and deciding whether to waive reinstituting sanctions lifted under the accord. That report, due 180 days after Trumps inauguration, was part of restrictions lawmakers put on the agreement, as was the 90-day certification requirement.

As White House officials have asserted their role in the process, the administration has downgraded internal State Department mechanisms for monitoring Iranian compliance. In recent weeks, a separate State Department office of Iran Nuclear Implementation established by Obama was subsumed by the bureau in charge of overall Middle East policy. Both Stephen D. Mull, the lead coordinator for implementation, and Stuart Jones, the acting head of the Middle East bureau, have told Tillerson they are resigning from the Foreign Service.

It is unclear who will replace Jones or whether Mull will be replaced at all.

Among those weighing in from the outside during the debate, which included a meeting of Trumps national security principals last week, were four Republican lawmakers Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), David Perdue (Ga.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.).

They urged noncertification in a letter Tuesday to Tillerson, saying that in addition to violations of the deal, Iran continues to wage a campaign of regional aggression, sponsor international terrorism, develop ballistic missile technology and oppress the Iranian people.

Mark Dubowitz, head of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which has long criticized the accord and urged its reformulation, said that recertification was the wrong decision.

I think the administration this time around should have made the decision not to recertify, explain why, and actually gone ahead with the waiver and slapped on some new nonnuclear sanctions.

Noncertification would not automatically trigger the end of the deal. That would require the United States to allege a material breach on Irans part and a referral to the joint commission of signatories to the agreement for assessment. But proponents of the accord said that a failure to certify would nonetheless trigger unwanted reactions.

Even if new sanctions were not related to Irans nuclear program, said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, the real question is whether under those conditions the political support inside Iran for compliance with the deal will continue.

Allegations of Iranian violations, he said, are trumped up and not supported by any evidence. ... They have exceeded heavy-water limits by a tiny percentage, and gone back into compliance within days.

Tillerson aide R.C. Hammond made clear that his boss believes that Iran is behaving badly in a number of areas, regardless of the assessment of the nuclear deal, and that a new policy is being formulated. All the Obama Iran deal did was pay for a pause in Irans nuclear program, he said. It didnt fix any problems. What were going to try to do is fix the problems.

The senior official added that unlike the previous administration, this administration sees the JCPOA as a symptom, not the disease.

The disease is broader Iranian aggression. Thats what the strategy review is focused on, and until its complete, its difficult to know what is the best resolution, the official said. The president has been very frank about his opinion.

Friday is the second anniversary of the signing of the deal, negotiated with Iran over a number of years by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union. Other signatories have been open in their rejection of Trumps assessment, and they have warned that they would continue to honor the agreement, and increase their trade and relations with Iran, no matter what the United States does.

I know that in the U.S. there is a review ongoing, E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said at a news conference Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. We respect that. But we also have the duty to make it clear that the nuclear deal doesnt belong to one country. It belongs to the international community, to the U.N. system. ... We share responsibility to make sure that this continues to be implemented fully by all.

Carol Morello in Kuwait contributed to this report.

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Trump administration plans to certify Iranian compliance with nuclear agreement - Washington Post

Members of Iranian Basij paramilitary force reenact the January capture of U.S sailors by the Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf at a rally to mark the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Azadi Square (Freedom Square) on Feb. 11, 2016 in Tehran, Iran. Majid Saeedi / Getty Images file

Sattari said Dehnavi and his family were denied entry to the U.S. "under unconventional pretexts," despite obtaining all legal documents, the report said.

The Children's Hospital in Boston issued a statement Thursday saying that Denhavi had not previously worked there.

"He was due to come to Boston Children's as a visiting scholar on a J-1 visa. His visa had been approved by the State Department prior to travel," it said. "Boston Children's has no additional information about the basis for denying Dr. Denhavi entry to the U.S."

Also Thursday, Stephanie Malin, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that "due to privacy law, CBP is prohibited from discussing the details of any individual's admissibility inspection."

See more here:
Iranian Researcher Denied US Entry Allegedly Has Ties to Militia - NBCNews.com

A top Iranian military commander is the latest official to speak out against U.S. chatter of pursuing a policy of regime changeagainstthe government in Tehran, something Washington has successfully done once before.

Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff for the Iranian military, attacked remarks made recently by high-ranking U.S. officials such as Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggesting they may seek to topple the Iranian government, which they accuseof sponsoring terrorism and political oppression.The military leader'swords echoed long-held suspicions by Iran that the U.S. is plotting to forcefully oust the nation's political and religious leaders in favor of ones more sympathetic to the West, as it did by sponsoring a coup in 1953. More than half a century later, Jazayeri said Iran was unphased by such comments from the administration of President Donald Trump, but vowed to respond with action.

Related:U.S. has no proof ISIS leader Baghdadi is alive, Russia thinks it killed him and Iran is sure he's dead

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"The ridiculous dreams of the Americans about the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran is nothing more than disturbeddelusionsand we are not worried that they have preoccupied themselves in such a way," Jazayeri said, according to Press TV, an English-language affiliate of the semi-official Islamic Republic Broadcasting Agency.

"We will respondto the nonsensical talksof the American authorities in the theaters of action," he added.

A man holds burning flags during the annual pro-Palestinian rally marking Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, in Tehran, Iran, June 23, 2017. Since deposing a U.S.-backed ruler in 1979, Iran's leadership has been deeply suspicious that Washington will once again try to overthrow its government in order to install leaders more friendly to Western interests. Nazanin Tabatabaee Yazdi/TIMA via REUTERS

Prior to 1953, Iran's government was headed by a democratically elected prime minister named Mohammad Mosaddegh whose popularity ultimately allowed him to supersede the authority of the country's monarch,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as the Shah. Mosaddegh nationalized Iran's oil industry in 1951, infuriating the U.K., which heavily invested in Iranian oil. The U.K. ultimately appealed to the CIA to sponsor a coup d'etat againstMosaddegh, which U.S. intelligence did in 1953, arresting Mosaddegh and replacing him with Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi. The Shah regained his former authority and implemented an authoritarianrule backed by the West for over 25 years until he himself was deposed in the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that saw Shiite Muslim cleric Ayatollah Khomeinitake power and pursue anti-West policies that persist to this day.

The U.S. only publicly admitted its role in the 1953 coup in 2013, and last month the CIA released a trove of previously top-secret documents publicly revealing new details of the affair, known as Operation AJAX. Relations between the U.S. and Iran somewhatwarmed during the administration of President Barack Obama, who signed a deal that lifted U.S. sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. Trump, however, has taken a more hardline stance toward the majority-Shiite Muslim power and some of his most senior officials have suggested that a second regime change may be in order.

"Until the Iranian people can get rid of this theocracy, these guys who think they can tell the people even which candidates they get a choice of. Its going to be very, very difficult," Mattis said Monday in an interview he granted to a high school journalism student, according to the Middle East Institute. Mattis went on to target the Iranian government, linking it to groups abroad considered by the U.S. to be terrorist organizations, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Ansar Allah, commonly referred to as the Houthi movement.

Comments by Mattis, who has long advocated for tougher U.S. action against Iran, followed Tillerson's response to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month in which the statesman explained U.S. policy toward Iran as being "to push back on [its regional] hegemony, contain their ability to develop, obviously, nuclear weapons and to work towards support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government."

Jazayeri is not the first Iranian official to respond to the Trump administration's comments. Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General HosseinDehghan told reporters Wednesday that, before the U.S. goes after Iran's internal political affairs, it should address its own scandals and potential shortcomings.

"Whenever the Americans have intended to make any type action against us or hire proxies to this end, our nation has proved that it makes them regret their deeds," Dehghan said, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency.

"The U.S. secretary of defense and the ruling system had better think of resolving their internal issues and study the root causes that will most possibly cause the current U.S. administration to collapse in a not so far future and will make the country's political system face a lot of serious challenges," he added.

Read the rest here:
Iran to US: Don't Even Think About Overthrowing Our Government Again - Newsweek

President Trump must increase pressure on Iran to disclose the whereabouts of Robert Levinson -- the former FBI agent who disappeared in the country a decade ago -- and return him to his family, several U.S. lawmakers said.

A delegation of lawmakers -- led by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. -- penned a letter Tuesday to Trump, calling on the administration to "re-engage" with Iran over Levinson, a Florida native who was last seen in 2007 on Iran's Kish Island. Levinson disappeared while traveling on an unauthorized mission to recruit an intelligence source for the CIA. If alive, he is the longest-held hostage in American history.

"As you know, our government has long pressed Iran to return Bob," read a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News.

"After ten years, Bob is still not home, and despite repeated promises, Iran has yet to cooperate in any meaningful way. Iran is responsible if Iranian officials dont have Bob, they know where to find him," the lawmakers wrote. "Bobs return is an urgent humanitarian issue."

The letter was signed by 19 lawmakers, including Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democratic U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The lawmakers also asked that Trump meet with Levinson's wife, Christine, and seven children to, "hear first-hand their struggle and tireless effort on Bob's behalf."

In March, on the 10-year anniversay of his father's disappearance, Levinson's son, Daniel, told Fox News that he's hopeful Trump will make good on his promise to bring his father home.

Iranian leaders have repeatedly denied knowing anything about Levinson's fate, but U.S. officials have indicated for years they believe the former agent is alive.

Trump had pledged to make Levinson's case a priority during his presidential campaign. The White House said in March the administration "remains unwavering in our commitment to locate Mr. Levinson and bring him home."

Levinson, from Coral Springs, Fla., retired from the FBI in 1998. He was working as a private investigator when he traveled to Kish Island, Iran, on March 8, 2007, on a 24-hour rogue assignment. He was last seen leaving the Hotel Miriam on the island and getting into a taxi to go to the airport.

Iranian state-run television reported at the time that Levinson was in the hands of Iranian security forces -- but no group officially claimed responsibility for taking him.

In October 2009, the FBI told Fox News it had received unconfirmed reports of sightings of Levinson in the Islamic Republic. Two years later, in March 2011, the U.S. government said it "received indications" that Levinson was being held somewhere in southwest Asia.

Levinson's wife criticized the Obama administration last year when she learned, through media reports, of a prisoner exchange with Iran that did not include her husband. At the time, Levinson's son, Daniel, said it felt like "once again, he's been left behind."

Levinson, left, disappeared in Iran in 2007.

Following the release of five American prisoners, President Obama said the U.S. would continue working to find Levinson. When asked by reporters whether Levinson was still alive, then-Secretary of State John Kerry said, "We have no idea." Kerry also said Tehran had pledged to assist the U.S. in its quest for answers.

Shortly thereafter, the Iranian government told the Obama administration it had intelligence that an American's remains had been buried in western Pakistan, near the country's border with Afghanistan and Iran, according to Levinson's son. But when Pakistan officials searched the site in question, no remains were found.

The Levinson family insists he is alive and that Iranian officials know where he is. They last received some visual record of him in video and photos that were sent about five years ago.

"Bob has suffered long enough," the lawmakers said in their letter to Trump.

Levinson is pictured with his daughters in 2006, about seven months before his kidnapping.

"We must never rest until he is returned to his family. We owe them nothing less."

Cristina Corbin is a Fox News reporter based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaCorbin.

Originally posted here:
Lawmakers to Trump: Iran must return American hostage Bob Levinson - Fox News