RCP’s Carolina Lumetta pressed Vice President JD Vance at a White House briefing on Thursday on how the immediate sanctions waivers in the president’s deal with Iran square with congressional review requirements under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. Vance said the White House plans to brief Congress soon, but argued that temporary sanctions relief does not require congressional approval, and the removal of certain financial sanctions could actually help U.S. intelligence get a better idea of how Iranian money actually moves. “The sanctions were just fundamentally ineffective at that point. What the sanctions did is move the Iranian financial system to a sort of shadow banking system,” Vance said. “By lifting the sanctions, we’re actually going to be able to see a little bit where their financial system actually sends money and receives money.” “That’s a real benefit to the American people, and that’s really the only thing that has changed by the change in sanctions.” “But does that require Congress?” Lumetta followed up. “We don’t think so,” Vice President Vance said. “We feel quite confident that we can temporarily lift those sanctions without going to Congress and seeking their approval on that.” The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INRA) was passed 98-1 in the U.S. Senate in 2015, during the final months of President Obama’s JCPOA negotiations, giving Congress the right to review any agreement reached with Iran, specifically regarding nuclear weapons and sanctions.

CAROLINA LUMETTA, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. How do the points about granting some immediate waivers on sanctions, especially from the Treasury Department, square with the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act? And are you planning on briefing Congress on this portion? VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: Yeah, so I talked to James Braid, our head of OLA (White House Office of Legislative Affairs). We do plan to brief Congress very soon. I believe that they got the formal copy of the signed document this morning, and if not, they’re going to get it at some point later today. We are planning a briefing. I believe right now the House is out of session, the Senate is in session, though maybe I’ve reversed that. But we’re going to ensure that the team briefs Congress and, of course, answers their questions. We’ve been doing that informally, of course, talking to a number of people in Congress just over the last week. We’ll keep on doing that, and we’ll have a formal briefing. I won’t say exactly when that will be because it depends a little bit on the session schedule. Your point about the sanctions is, I’ll go back to what I said earlier, which is that really, the choke point on Iranian oil was never the sanctions. Didn’t see that as a major concession to the Iranians. Frankly, the Iranians didn’t see that as a concession to them because what prevented them from selling oil was not the sanctions. They were selling plenty of oil without any discount because the sanctions were just fundamentally ineffective at that point. What the sanctions did do is move the Iranian financial system to a sort of shadow banking system. So by lifting the blockade, that’s the significant thing that has changed. And by lifting the sanctions, we’re actually going to be able to see a little bit where their financial system actually sends money and receives money. That’s a real benefit to the American people, and that’s really the only thing that has changed by the change in sanctions. CAROLINA LUMETTA: But does that require Congress? J.D. VANCE: Sorry, I forgot that part of the question. No, we don’t think so. We actually have an opinion from OLC (DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel) we feel quite confident about. Congress does – there are certain things that require congressional approval. There are certain things that don’t require congressional approval. We feel quite confident that we can temporarily lift those sanctions without going to Congress and seeking their approval on that.

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