Menendez says he'll hold off on Iran sanctions vote

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), who has frequently and forcefully clashed with President Obama over Iran policy, gave the administration some breathing room Tuesday.

Menendez, the leading Democratic advocate for tougher economic sanctions on Iran, said that he and nine fellow Democrats would not vote for any new measures until at least March 24, heeding Obama's call to allow his administration time to negotiate a deal that prevents Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

His statement - coming moments after protesters heckled Menendez for forcefully pushing for new sanctions - essentially blocks, for now, Republican hopes to impose new restrictions, because the GOP would need a handful of Democratic votes to overcome Senate procedural hurdles.

Republicans seem unlikely to have the needed votes without Menendez or his allies on board.

The announcement came as another local senator - Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) - called for stepping up the economic pressure on Iran.

Menendez and the other Democrats pushing for new sanctions, including Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Chris Coons of Delaware, sent a letter to Obama saying that they still believed added penalties would pressure Iran into an agreement but that they were willing to wait two more months.

"We need Iran to understand that there are consequences if they fail to reach a comprehensive agreement," Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at a morning hearing.

He later told reporters he was skeptical that a deal could be reached, but said giving the administration time "allows us to see whether a deal can be struck or not" while making it clear that Congress is ready to act if no agreement is in place by late March.

March 24 is the latest self-imposed deadline for the United States, five cooperating countries, and Iran to reach the outline of a deal over Tehran's nuclear program.

Menendez and Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) later introduced a bill to impose new sanctions if there is no deal by June 30, the deadline for a finalized deal over Iran's nuclear weapons program.

Menendez's delay came after he blasted the administration just last week, telling Obama aides at another hearing that it sounded as though their talking points "come straight out of Tehran."

Obama and other Democrats warn that new penalties could crush the negotiations, drive a wedge between the United States and its negotiating partners - which oppose new sanctions - and give Iran an excuse to walk away from talks.

As a result, they argue, more military action would be the only option left to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"New sanctions passed by this Congress, at this moment in time, will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails," Obama said in his State of the Union speech last week. "That is why I will veto any new sanctions bill that threatens to undo this progress. The American people expect us to only go to war as a last resort, and I intend to stay true to that wisdom."

Top administration officials welcomed Menendez's letter Tuesday.

"That is something we would see very favorably and would answer a big part of the problem that we had" with a new sanctions bill, said Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Menendez's announcement came shortly after protesters chided him before the hearing.

One accused him of potentially inciting another Middle East war "just because you're on AIPAC's payroll" - a reference to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Toomey, though, argued for imposing new sanctions and for requiring that any deal prevent Iran from enriching uranium, and said any agreement should require approval from Congress.

"If the Iranians are serious about a deal, they wouldn't walk away from the negotiations over conditional, prospective sanctions that they have the power to avoid," Toomey said at the hearing.

In a later interview he said that "the clock is ticking" on a deal and that sanctions might push Iran toward a deal.

"Time is not our friend here," he said.

@JonathanTamari

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