Jason Ditz | AntiWar.com

Though officials in the Obama Administration have been publicly neutral about the new round of sanctions against Iran moving its may through the House and Senate, the administration is quietly supporting the efforts, despite the deleterious affect they may have on negotiations.

Iran is in the process of negotiating with the P5+1 on a draft deal for third party enrichment of its uranium for medical isotopes. The House and Senate measures would punish corporations that import refined petroleum to Iran in an effort to punish Iran for refusing US demands to abandon its program entirely.

But while there seems to be very little resistance within the US to moving forward with more unilateral sanctions against Iran, the ability to push forward more sanctions in the UN Security Council is very much in doubt, and Russia says such moves are virtually impossible, at least for the time being.

Though America’s own National Intelligence Estimate confirms that this is not the case, the Obama Administration has repeatedly accused Iran of having an active nuclear weapons program, and Congress is eager to act against the illusory threat.