The Senate backed new sanctions on Iran in a voice vote Monday, adding new pressure on the country over its nuclear program.
"With these new sanctions, as negotiations on Iran's nuclear program are renewed this week in Baghdad, we are reminding Iran's military and political leaders that they must make a clear choice," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said in a written statement. "They can come clean on their nuclear program, and end the suppression of their people and stop supporting terrorist activities around the globe. Or they can continue to face sustained multilateral economic and diplomatic pressure, and deepen their international isolation."
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, however, cautioned that the legislation alone will not do enough to stop Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons.
"Any comprehensive policy that seeks to end Iran's effort to acquire a nuclear weapon needs to convince the rulers in Tehran that their survival is in question," McConnell said. "Senate Republicans insisted that the Senate pass nothing less than the President's commitment that all options are on the table, in order to prevent any contrary perception that silence on the use of force would have created."
