South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Barbara Slavin writes for Voice of America on how the Iran nuclear agreement is slowly progressing amid the upcoming Iranian election season and pressure against the US State Department from the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
Eager to see relief of punishing economic sanctions, Iran is moving swiftly to implement the landmark nuclear deal it reached with the international community in July. But other actions in Tehran and Washington are souring the climate for compliance.
Stephen Mull, the State Department’s lead coordinator for the agreement, faced tough questioning from Republicans and a few Democrats last Thursday about what many asserted was administration hesitancy to impose new sanctions on Iran for violating a UN Security Council resolution barring ballistic missile tests.