A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is preparing to reintroduce legislation in the coming weeks that would impose further sanctions on Tehran and call for a greater congressional voice in Washington’s negotiations with the Islamic Republic. The legislation, first introduced in December 2013, was not at the time brought to the floor for a vote. Lawmakers were vocal following the November 2014 elections that the upcoming Congress would make Iran a top priority on Capitol Hill — Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told reporters that “there will be a desire very quickly after the first of the year for Congress to weigh in on the topic in some form or fashion.” Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Thursday told reporters that the Senate Banking Committee was expected to vote on the bill, which he cosponsored with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and which, per CNN, would “reimpose sanctions on Iran if [the President] couldn’t certify that Iran doesn’t finance terror groups that have attacked Americans and would keep Iran from maintaining low-level nuclear enrichment in a final deal.” The Washington Post’s David Ignatius on Thursday outlined how the potential threats to U.S. troops in the region from Iranian proxies provides the Iranians with additional leverage against the West in the context of nuclear talks aimed at putting Iran’s nuclear program beyond use for weaponization. He also wrote that Washington retains leverage against Iran in the form of potential cyber warfare capabilities. Experts expressed skepticism regarding the latter argument. Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, asked regarding the claim, “If Obama really has will to use cyber as a weapon if no deal, why does he keep bending to Khamenei’s nuke demands?” Meanwhile, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki on Friday announced that Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif are expected to meet next week in Geneva ahead of the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1.

[Photo: Mike / Flickr ]