WASHINGTON: Leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties in the US Senate have threatened to impose new sanctions on Iran if an expected agreement with the country did not include provisions for dismantling its nuclear programme.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez and Republican Senator Mark Kirk are also responsible for introducing earlier sanctions on Iran.

Their remarks follow three days of talks in Oman between Iran and the P5+1 countries to conclude a final agreement over Tehran’s nuclear programme by Nov 24. “As co-authors of bipartisan sanctions laws that compelled Iran to the negotiating table, we believe that a good deal will dismantle, not just stall, Iran’s illicit nuclear programme,” said the two senators in a joint statement issued in Washington.

They insisted that the deal being negotiated in Oman must “prevent Iran from ever becoming a threshold nuclear weapons state”.

They said they wanted the expected agreement also to enforce stringent limits on nuclear-related research, development and procurement.

The agreement should also require Iran to “come clean on all possible military dimensions issues”, they said.

They also urged negotiators from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to include a provision requiring “a robust inspection and verification regime for decades to prevent Iran from breaking-out or covertly sneaking-out.”

The lawmakers said that gradual sanctions relaxation would only occur if Iran strictly complied with all parts of the agreement.

“If a potential deal does not achieve these goals, we will work with our colleagues in Congress to act decisively, as we have in the past,” they warned.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2014