IRAN BILL DEBATED
Democrats and Republicans backing a bill to give Congress a chance to review a nuclear deal with Iran insisted on Tuesday that it be passed free of controversial add-ons that they claim could scuttle negotiations with Tehran, draw a presidential veto or leave lawmakers with no say on a national security threat. As written, the legislation would block President Barack Obama from waiving congressional sanctions for at least 30 days while lawmakers weigh in on any final deal the U.S. and five other nations can reach with Iran. And it would stipulate that if senators disapprove the deal, Obama would lose authority to waive certain economic penalties. Obama says he will sign it as written, but the White House warns that he will reconsider if the measure is substantially changed.
Associated Press
Iranian forces fired warning shots across the bridge of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel as it was traversing the Strait of Hormuz, boarded the ship and directed it toward the Iranian mainland, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.
The incident with the MV Maersk Tigris, which prompted the U.S. Navy to dispatch a destroyer and a plane in response, comes at a critical time in Iran’s relations with its neighbors and the United States.
The U.S., other world powers and Iran are trying to hammer out a final deal over Iran’s nuclear program. Last week, the U.S. Navy dispatched an aircraft carrier and guided missile cruiser to the Arabian Sea amid worries that a convoy of Iranian cargo ships was headed to Yemen to deliver arms to the Shiite rebels fighting to take over Yemen.
Navy officials said Tuesday that several Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy vessels last Friday surrounded a U.S.-flagged cargo ship, the Maersk Kensington, as it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz. No shots were fired, the Iranian vessels broke off contact, and the cargo ship proceeded without further incident.
In Tuesday’s incident, the intercepted ship was traveling through the narrow Strait, which is in Iranian and Omani territorial waters, but under international agreement is open to foreign ships making an innocent passage, said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. It wasn’t clear whether the ship had strayed off course into coastal waters not protected by that agreement.
The master of the Maersk Tigris had initially refused an Iranian order to move further into Iranian waters, but complied after the warning shots were fired, Warren said.
It was directed to waters near Larak Island near the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
Iranian state television reported that the 24 crew aboard the vesselhailed from Britain, Bulgaria, Romania and Myanmar. It said the ship was seized based on a court order due to unspecified violations.
Iranian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The strait is the route for about a fifth of the world’s oil and is only abut 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. Iran has in the past threatened to block the waterway, a move that could spark a military conflict in the Gulf.
“It is inappropriate” for the Iranians to have fired warning shots across the ship’s bridge in Tuesday’s circumstances, Warren said. He said it was too early to know whether the Iranian intervention amounted to a violation of the freedom of navigation through a waterway heavily used by international shipping.
Warren said no Americans were involved, but the sU.S. government has “certain obligations” to defend the interests of the Marshall Islands.
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