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Vice President Vance said Thursday the administration is “quite confident” that sanctions on Iranian oil can be waived as part of a new peace agreement without congressional approval.
Vance was asked about the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, a law that prevents the president from lifting sanctions on Iran before discussing it with Congress, as he briefed the press.
“There are certain things that require congressional approval. There are certain things that don’t require congressional approval,” he said. “We feel quite confident that we can temporarily lift those sanctions without going to Congress and seeking their approval on that.”
One part of the 14-point memorandum of understanding (MOU) says that upon its signing, the Treasury Department will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products and derivatives and associated services.
Vance said the administration plans to brief Congress about the signed memo “very soon.”
“We’re going to ensure that the team briefs Congress, of course, answers their questions,” he said.
He said the administration had informally briefed members of Congress over the past week and will continue briefing them. He said he couldn’t say when a formal briefing would be because it depends on lawmakers’ schedules.
Vance repeatedly defended the point in the memo, saying the sanctions “had stopped being effective. The blockade is what’s effective.”
The point had been criticized by some administration allies and Iran hawks who say the suspension of sanctions gives Tehran some much-needed money without them agreeing to any nuclear concessions.
The vice president said he didn’t view it as a major concession.
“We didn’t see that as a major concession to the Iranians, frankly,” he said. “The Iranians didn’t see that as a concession to them, because what prevented them from selling oil was not the sanctions, they were selling plenty of oil without any discount, because the sanctions were just fundamentally ineffective at that point.”
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