Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

The US House of Representatives has passed bills on Tuesday to renew its sanctions on Iran for ten years and impose new sanctions on Syria and its supporters, underlining their determination to play roles in Middle East policy.

According to Reuters news reports, in a press release, the foreign affair committee on Tuesday said the US House has passed by voice acclamation the Ceasar Syrian Civilian Protection Act of 2019 in order to impose some new sanctions on Syrian supporters of energy, business sectors, and airspace.

The release stated: “The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act would require the president to impose new sanctions on anyone who does business with or provides financing to the Government of Syria, including Syrian intelligence and security services, or the Central Bank of Syria; Provides aircraft or spare parts for aircraft to Syria’s airlines; is involved with construction and engineering projects controlled by the Syrian government; or supports Syria’s energy industry.”

Under the bill, the US President Donald Trump could waive sanctions on a case-by-case basis, also the sanctions could be suspended “if the parties are engaged in meaningful negotiations and the violence against civilians has ceased”, the release further added.

The bill has not yet passed through the Senate with Democrats dismissing to take such voting during the partial government shutdown.

In an official statement in November, the White House has said it strongly supports the legislation that would cut off the Syrian government access to the international financial system and further facilitate visas restrictions over the Syrian officials.

The House voted419 for a 10-year reauthorization of the Iran Sanctions Act or ISA, which was first adopted in 1996 in order to punish the investments in Iran’s energy system industry, and deter Iranian pursuit of the nuclear weapon. It passed a second bill imposing news sanction of the Syrian government and its supporters including Iran and Russia, for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The US lawmakers said they wanted the ISA to remain affected in order to send a strong message that the US will retaliate to provocations made by Iran and that that gives any US president the ability to immediately reinstate sanctions of Iran if Tehran tries to violate the nuclear agreement.

The top Democrat on the house foreign affairs committee Eliot Engel said, “Even after a hard-fought election here at home and power changing hands, American leadership on the global stage won’t falter.”

Calling the ISA “a critical tool”, chairman of the foreign affairs committee republican representative Ed Royce said, “Its expiration would compound the damage done by the president’s dangerous nuclear deal and send a message that the United States will no longer oppose the destructive role of Iran in the Middle East.”

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