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White House says more sanctions on Iran by US Congress would be "counterproductive"

WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (KUNA) -- White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Monday said that it would be "counterproductive" for the US Congress to impose additional sanctions on Iran while negotiations continue on the Iranian nuclear program.
A new deadline for a political framework agreement for the talks with Iran has been set for March 1, with a deadline for final agreement, including annexes, on July 1, Western diplomatic sources said.
Negotiators failed to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear program before a Monday night deadline. The negotiators included representatives from Iran and the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
"The concern that we have is that layering on additional sanctions could leave some of our partners with the impression that the sanctions regime is more punitive in nature than anything else, and that could cause some cracks in that international coordination to appear, and that would, therefore, undermine the point of the sanctions regime in the first place," Earnest said during a briefing.
"We have got international inspectors who are keeping close tabs on the Iranian nuclear program, and the access that they have gotten in the context of these talks is unlike any access they have gotten to the Iran nuclear program in history," he said.
There are substantial gaps that remain, and President Barack Obama on numerous occasions has made clear that he believes the prospects of a deal with Iran are 50-50 at best, Earnest said.
"The President has also been clear that no deal is better than a bad deal," Earnest said. "But we do believe that enough progress has been made to warrant giving the Iranian regime more time to answer the international community's concerns about their nuclear program, and to put in place a protocol for continuing to assure the international community about their compliance with these agreements." (end) rm.bs