Top Republicans and Democrats from the House of Representatives are calling on their Senate colleagues to move forward with legislation to increase sanctions on Iran, brushing aside concerns being expressed by administration figures that new pressure will damage efforts to negotiate with the Islamic republic over its nuclear weapons program. Experts and diplomats had already this week questioned the logic of the administration argument, pointing out that, inasmuch as heightening sanctions-driven pressure had coerced Iran to come to the negotiating table, increasing that pressure could hardly cause them to walk away.

“Let’s not kid ourselves: The only reason that [the Iranians] are negotiating now is because of the success of the sanctions in place,” said Rep. Ted Deutch (Fla.), the top Democrat on the committee’s Middle East panel. “I think we need to keep up the pressure, I think we need to enhance the pressure.”…The chairman of the full committee, Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), said it’s “critical” for the Senate to act now. “It is critical for the Senate to pass legislation to increase economic pressure on Iran,” Royce said in an email. “Existing sanctions have forced Tehran to the negotiating table, and we should be building more pressure instead of slowing down.”

The House passed its own sanctions legislation in July by a margin of 400-20, and parallel legislation is currently waiting for mark up by Senate Banking Committee. On the Senate side, Mark Kirk (R-IL) questioned why the U.S. should forgo strengthening its negotiating position while Iran was strengthening its hand by installing new nuclear technology, pointedly telling Reuters that “if Iran is capable of negotiating while violating international law, the United States should be equally capable of negotiating while imposing new sanctions pressure.”

[Photo: CongressmanTedDeutch / YouTube]