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The House of Representatives and the Senate have both passed versions of new sanctions legislation, which impose new penalties on the Iranian energy sector, and the end of the talks in Moscow has prompted calls for the two chambers to quickly agree on a new bill. Mark Kirk, the Illinois senator who co-wrote a previous sanctions bill, said that Congress should aim to negotiate a final bill that can be sent to the president by July.
Some members of Congress are pushing for the new legislation to include much tougher measures. One idea would be to declare the entire Iranian energy sector a "zone of proliferation concern", a legal formula that would effectively close some of the loopholes in existing legislation that allow Iran to settle payment for some of its oil exports. Another proposal is to introduce much broader restrictions on doing business with the Iranian central bank, which is already the target of existing US sanctions legislation.
"This would be a significant ratcheting up of the economic war against Iran," said Mark Dubowitz, who is executive director of Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank and has advised members of Congress on sanctions legislation.
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