Schuette calls for states to impose sanctions on Iran
State attorney general asks states to impose, extend sanctions in face of Obama administration deal to curtain nuclear program.
WASHINGTON Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on Tuesday issued a letter to governors across the nation asking them to impose or extend their own economic sanctions against Iran, as the Obama administration seeks to lift federal ones as part of an agreement for Iran to scale back its nuclear program.
In a letter sent to all 50 governors, Schuette and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said the agreement forged between Iran and the U.S. and five other world powers, which does not require congressional approval, "cannot bind the states," which continue to have authority to impose their own restrictions on government spending involving Iran or companies with economic relationships with it.
Michigan is one of 25 states to have imposed sanctions against Iran, which prohibits such companies or entities from submitting bids for state work or contracts.
"Iran engages in some of the world’s most severe human rights abuses — oppressing women and persecuting people of nearly all faiths, including Jews, Christians and Baha’is,” Schuette said. "I will enforce Michigan law and opposed lifting any sanctions on Iran."
The Obama administration has acknowledged that the agreement does not force states to drop their own enacted sanctions, but Secretary of State John Kerry has said it would encourage states to do so voluntarily.
Schuette's letter comes as Congress prepares to return to Washington and is expected to take up the Iran deal by Sept. 17, with the administration working to line up votes against any move to de-authorize the deal.
Although a vote isn't necessary to put the agreement into place, Congress could turn it back with a vote against it, and Republican leaders in control of both the U.S. House and Senate are pressing to do so. However, it is far from certain that they would have the votes of two-thirds of the members in each chamber to override an expected presidential veto if the measure rejecting the agreement passes.
In Michigan, practically all the members of Congress have come out for or against the bill along party lines, with Democrats in support. One notable exception, however, is Michigan U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Bloomfield Township, whose vote could be key in helping to determine the fate of the measure. Peters has declined to state a position on the measure.
Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947, tspangler@freepress.com or Twitter at @tsspangler