US Lawmakers Seeking to Block Iran’s WTO Bid

The pressure from the bipartisan group of House lawmakers illustrates the political crosscurrents the Obama administration faces after reaching a landmark nuclear accord with Iran and five other world powers last year. Iran signaled it wanted to move toward joining the trade body after completion of the nuclear deal.

In a letter sent Thursday, GOP Reps. Peter Roskam of Illinois and Dave Reichert of Washington and Democratic Reps. Juan Vargas of California and Grace Meng of New York urged US Trade Representative Michael Froman to resist Iran’s efforts to join the international group, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“… Iranian accession to the WTO could seriously complicate our ability to combat Iran’s support for terrorism, human rights violations, ballistic missile program and other illicit activity,” the lawmakers wrote.

All four lawmakers opposed the deal Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) finalized in July 2015.

Under terms of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the US committed to freeing as much as $100 billion in Iranian oil money frozen in overseas accounts as Iran takes steps to roll back key parts of its nuclear program. 

The lawmakers said in Thursday’s letter that they worried that the WTO rules could limit sanctions the US might want to levy on Iran.

A senior administration official said the White House wasn’t currently working to help Iran gain entrance into the world trade body.

“The WTO accession process is based on consensus, and as of now, there are a number of countries that oppose appointing a chair to Iran’s working party on accession,” the official said.

Since the nuclear deal last year, countries such as Oman and Switzerland have pressed for forming a special committee of the WTO to address Iran’s bid. Iran’s regional rivals, particularly Saudi Arabia, have opposed that effort.

The George W. Bush administration once pledged to support Iran’s bid to join the WTO if a nuclear agreement was reached.   

While the JCPOA came into force in January, some Iranian officials complain about the US failure to fully implement the accord.

Back in March, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Americans have yet to fulfill what they were supposed to do as per the nuclear agreement.

Iran still has problems in its banking transactions or in restoring its frozen assets, because Western countries and those involved in such processes are afraid of Americans, the Leader said at the time, criticizing the US for its moves to prevent Iran from taking advantage of the sanctions removal.