Iran Press/ America: According to two officials familiar with the forthcoming measure, the expected announcement, first reported by Reuters, comes as US lawmakers have agreed on defense legislation that will force the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Turkey for buying a Russian missile system and penalize companies linked to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The House and Senate armed services committees reached a consensus on a $740bn defense bill that is expected to pass Congress this month. Donald Trump has threatened to veto the annual defense spending legislation, but he will face pressure to sign it because it funds the salaries of military personnel.
The National Defense Authorization Act would compel the White House to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense missile system within 30 days of becoming law. That would force Trump to take action before he leaves office on January 20.
Ankara’s purchase of the S-400 last year stoked tensions with Washington and should have triggered sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act. Congress has been frustrated by the president’s reluctance to apply sanctions to the US ally.
The defense bill requires Trump to impose at least five sanctions outlined in Caatsa, including a ban on US banking and property transactions, the denial of US visas, and forcing US lenders to deny loans to any sanctioned companies.
The legislation also expands the list of sanctionable activities related to Nord Stream 2, the controversial pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany, to include insurance companies.
The NDAA would also block Trump’s plans to withdraw roughly one-third of the 34,500 US forces stationed in Germany. The president recently fired his defense secretary partly over opposition to drawing down troops in Afghanistan.
Trump vowed this week to veto the bill unless Congress included language to strip social media companies of legal protections over content posted on their platforms. He has accused social media groups of bias against conservatives and attempting to damage his re-election.
Lawmakers also declined to remove a provision that would force the Pentagon to rename military bases named after Confederate generals associated with supporting slavery, despite a separate veto threat from Trump.
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