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A battle is brewing between the Trump government and some of the congressional president's biggest supporters who fear that sanctions imposed on Iran early next month will not be severe enough.
While President Donald Trump is preparing to reimpose a second set of sanctions against Iran lightened by the 2015 nuclear deal, conservative lawmakers and outside advisers are worried about the the fact that the administration could break the promise to exert "maximum pressure" on Iran. They are irritated by suggestions that the measures to be announced on November 5 will not include a provision cutting Iran from a key element of the global financial system.
The Iranian hawks themselves have worried about drafting legislation that would require the administration to demand that Iran be suspended from the international bank transfer system known as SWIFT.
"The president has asked for maximum, not semi-maximal, pressure," said Richard Goldberg, a former aide to a Republican senator and senior advisor to the Democracy Defense Foundation, a group that supports the government. idea of sanctioning Iran with sanctions. "The maximum pressure includes the disconnection of Iranian banks from SWIFT."
Trump pledged Thursday to do all that is necessary to put pressure on Iran so that it ends what he calls his "perverse behavior", such as the development nuclear and missiles, as well as support for terrorism and groups that destabilize the Middle East.
"On November 5, all US sanctions against Iran lifted by the nuclear deal will again be fully implemented," he told the White House to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the US government. 1983 attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, attributed to Iran-backed extremists. "And they will be followed by even tougher sanctions to attack the full range of evil behavior of Iran.We will not allow the world's leading sponsor of terrorism to develop the world's deadliest weapons." Will not happen. "
The sanctions of November 5 cover the Iranian banking and energy sectors and restore sanctions applicable to countries and companies in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world that do not interrupt Iranian oil imports. They could also include measures to force Iran to leave SWIFT.
Despite Trump's tough stance, the hawks worry about recent comments from Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and his aides, according to which Iran would be able to stay connected to SWIFT. They also fear that the administration will adhere to its zero tolerance policy regarding Iranian oil purchases by waiving certain countries and companies that do not stop buying it.
Proponents of the agreement with Iran, along with other parties to the agreement, contend that the withdrawal of Iran from SWIFT, the Belgian telecommunications company interbank markets, will lead to the creation of alternative mechanisms that could supplant it as the world's leading institution of finance. institutions to send and receive information on banking transactions. According to them, deportation will make it more difficult for Iran to carry out operations, such as humanitarian purchases, which will still be allowed after 5 November.
Permitting Iran to remain in SWIFT would facilitate the importation of humanitarian goods by humanitarian goods such as drugs authorized under US sanctions and "would help the United States clarify that its criticism of Iran is directed at the regime, and not the people of Iran ". Elizabeth Rosenberg, former Treasury Officer at the Center for a New American Security. She added, however, that disconnection would be a "fast track" to isolation.
The debate highlights the challenges the administration faces as it attempts to isolate Iran without the full support of other world powers that continue to support the nuclear deal.
Although the hawks rejoiced at Trump's decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal in May and welcome the new imposition of sanctions in August, they now fear that the Treasury may use existing safeguards to isolate the Iran instead of hitting SWIFT members with sanctions they do not disconnect Tehran.
The Treasury was shyness in its intentions, claiming only that Mnuchin and the agency had conducted "an intense campaign of economic pressure against Iran as part of the overall strategy of this administration for s & # 39; Attacking the whole of the malignant and destabilizing activity of Iran, with much more to come ".
"The Ministry of Finance has made it very clear that we will continue to prevent bad Iranian players, including designated banks, from accessing the international financial system in different ways," the government said. "We will also take action against those who attempt to carry out prohibited transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities, regardless of the mechanisms used."
This unapologetic stance has gathered the hawks around the legislation prepared by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which would compel the government to impose sanctions on SWIFT members, including some US banks, if it did not suspend Iran by itself. .
Federal law currently gives the authority the power to act against the Iranian central bank and other banks subject to sanctions on terrorism and money laundering. Cruz's legislation, however, would allow the administration to impose sanctions on all Iranian banks and compel it to take action against SWIFT if it connected an Iranian bank under sanctions to its system, according to a copy seen by the government. # 39; AP.
In August, Cruz led a group of 16 GOP senators, including Republican Trump allies, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, to demand action against SWIFT if Iran was not suspended. Congressional advisers said they believed the proposed bill would be strongly supported. "The maximum pressure campaign of the administration will not succeed if the Islamic Republic remains connected to SWIFT," Senators told Mnuchin.
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