Paul Ryan presses White House on Iran penalties

Rep. Paul Ryan is warning the White House not to lift any unnecessary financial penalties against Iran.

The Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee told President Obama in a letter on Tuesday that he has “serious questions” about whether the White House will “keep in place tax rules that discourage conducting business with Iran” in the wake of the completed nuclear deal.

{mosads}That deal — which Congress failed to kill earlier this summer — lifts global sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors in exchange for new limits on its nuclear powers.

However, the agreement is not supposed to affect other financial and tax measures that punish Iran for its support of terrorism and violations of human rights. The Obama administration has said that those sanctions will remain in place and, if anything, its efforts will only be enhanced by the rolling back of nuclear sanctions. 

In his letter this week, Ryan worried whether the administration is seeking to lay off some of the tax penalties that would be in store for companies planning to do business with Iran once the initial sanctions are lifted. Those tax penalties can be lifted by the White House, if it so chooses.

He asked the White House to commit to not waiving those penalties during the remainder of Obama’s term in office.

“The idea that a nuclear Iran can be deterred is unrealistic,” Ryan — a critic of the nuclear deal and the 2012 Republican nominee for vice president — told Obama. “Instead of opening pathways for Iran’s nuclear and terrorist agenda, your administration should work with Congress to strengthen sanctions regimes until Iran changes its behavior.”

Even though the U.S. is lifting sanctions against foreign companies that do business in Iran, it will still largely prohibit U.S. firms from operating there.

The administration is likely to release an early draft of the lifting of U.S. sanctions in October, though it would not go into effect until Iran takes a number of steps to put limits on its nuclear program.  

In a Senate hearing last week, Obama’s nominee to be the Treasury Department’s top sanctions official said that ongoing sanctions against Iran would be “at the forefront” of his agenda while in office. 

Still, lawmakers in both parties are seeking to renew expiring sanctions and enact new ones against Iran in coming months, despite the White House’s wishes.