Sen. Lindsey Graham[/caption]Hawkish Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has announced that the US Senate will vote on Iran sanctions legislation next month despite ongoing nuclear negotiations.
"In January of next year, there will be a vote on the Kirk-Menendez bill, bipartisan sanction legislation, he said in a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.
He was referring to sanctions legislation drafted by Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez and Sen. Mark Kirk.
The bill that would impose more sanctions against Iran came one month after Tehran and six world powers reached an interim nuclear agreement in Geneva in November 2013.
Several important lobby groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), are working hard to build support for the measure.
The White House has said President Barack Obama will veto the bill if it is passed.
"We continue to believe that adding on sanctions while negotiations are ongoing would be counterproductive," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said last month.
The Obama administration is under pressure to put additional sanctions against Iran following the extension of nuclear talks between Tehran and the P5+1 countries -- the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany.
Last month, Iran and the six world powers agreed to extend the negotiations.
They also agreed that the interim deal they had signed in Geneva last November remain in place during the remainder of the negotiations until July 1, 2015.
By Press TV
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