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Congress, Missing Trump's Deadline, Doesn't Reimpose Sanctions On Iran

President Donald Trump has the option of backing out of the nuclear deal with Iran in mid-January.

By: Jake Jones

Posted at 4:39 PM, Dec 12, 2017

and last updated 2017-12-12 16:39:59-05

It doesn't seem like the U.S. Congress will reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Congress had until this week to bring back sanctions, which were lifted under the 2015 nuclear agreement. Trump didn't recertify that deal in October 2017, giving Congress 60 days to act.

But neither chamber advanced legislation, effectively punting the move to reimpose sanctions — and the risk of ending the nuclear deal — back to Trump. Iran has said the agreement hinges on the U.S.' involvement and that reimposing sanctions would be a death blow to the deal.

Trump had signaled he'd back out of the agreement if Congress didn't act. He has a deadline in mid-January to decide if he'll waive sanctions against Iran.