Cotton calls on Congress to immediately impose sanctions on Iran

PressTV- Republican Sen. Tom Cotton has called on Congress to “immediately” impose new sanctions against Iran amid ongoing negotiations between the P5+1 and the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

“The best solution is walk away from the nuclear negotiations now and return to a position of strength," Cotton said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We should reinstate existing sanctions suspended under the Joint Plan of Action, and Congress should act immediately to impose new sanctions. It’s time for the United States to regain the upper hand and quit negotiating out of weakness," he stated.

Cotton organized an open letter addressed to “leaders of the Islamic Republic” which was sent to Iran on March 9.

The letter signed by a group of 47 Republican senators warned that whatever agreement reached with President Barack Obama would be a “mere executive agreement” and that Congress could ultimately walk away from any deal on Tehran’s nuclear program upon review.

The letter followed a speech to Congress on March 3 by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who warned US lawmakers that the White House was negotiating “a very bad deal” with Tehran.

Iran and the P5+1 group are working intensely to narrow their differences and hammer out a final comprehensive accord over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program by the end of June 2015.

On Wednesday, representatives from Tehran and the P5+1, the US, Britain, France, China, Russian and Germany, resumed negotiations in the Swiss city of Lausanne after the US State Department said Tuesday it would need to extend for one day the talks on the framework of an agreement.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the talks as “very good” and hoped that the parties attending the negotiations could arrive at the expected understanding on Wednesday.