Lawmakers back measures to protect Israel by punishing Iran

Aiming to prove their commitment to Israel, senior US lawmakers are backing bipartisan legislation that would slap Iran with new sanctions while maintaining rigorous enforcement of the landmark nuclear deal.
The measures, unveiled at the opening of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, seek to build consensus among Republicans and Democrats who are so often bitterly at odds on domestic issues.
The AIPAC meeting continues today with appearances by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
During yesterday's session, House Speaker Paul Ryan declared the US commitment to Israel "sacrosanct."
But Ryan also derided the nuclear deal an "unmitigated disaster" that gives Iran "a patient pathway to a nuclear weapons capability."

In exchange for Tehran rolling back its nuclear programme, the US and other world powers agreed to suspend wide-ranging oil, trade and financial sanctions that had choked the Iranian economy.

The House bill, which is co-sponsored by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, targets Iran's "illicit" ballistic missile development programme.
The measure would shut out of the international financial system Iranian and foreign companies involved in the missile programme along with the banks that back them.
The Senate legislation imposes mandatory sanctions on people involved in Iran's ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The measure also would apply terrorism sanctions to the country's Revolutionary Guards and enforce an arms embargo.