WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) – It has been years since the United States has had good intelligence on the whereabouts of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin laden, although he is thought to be in Pakistan, CIA director Leon Panetta said on Sunday. He also gave a sobering account of the war in Afghanistan, saying the Taliban seemed to be strengthening with a stepped-up campaign of violence, even as U.S.-led forces undermine the Islamist m

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress on Thursday approved tough new unilateral sanctions aimed at squeezing Iran’s energy and banking sectors, which could also hurt companies from other countries doing business with Tehran.

The House of Representatives passed the bill 408-8 and sent it to President Barack Obama for signing into law. The Senate had approved it 99-0 earlier in the day.

Congress wants to pressure Tehran into curbing its nuclear program, which Washington suspects is aimed at making a bomb.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties have been pushing for months to tighten U.S. sanctions on Iran. At the Obama administration’s request, they held off until the U.N. Security Council and the European Union agreed on new multilateral sanctions. But the lawmakers then declared that still tougher measures were needed.

“The U.N. sanctions, though a good first step, are quite tepid. And they are tepid because there are other members of the Security Council who want to keep doing that business with Iran. … The United States … has to pass these unilateral sanctions,” Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski said.

The bill penalizes companies supplying Iran with gasoline as well as international banking institutions involved with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its nuclear program or what Washington calls its support for terrorist activity.

It would effectively deprive foreign banks of access to the U.S. financial system if they do business with key Iranian banks or the Revolutionary Guards.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved tough new unilateral sanctions aimed at squeezing Iran’s energy and banking sectors, which could also hurt companies from other countries doing business with Tehran.

The Senate passed the bill 99-0. The House of Representatives was expected to follow suit later in the day, then the measure will go to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

Congress’ intent is to pressure Tehran into curbing its nuclear program, which Washington suspects is aimed at making a bomb.

Lawmakers from both parties have been pushing for months to tighten U.S. sanctions on Iran. At the Obama administration’s request, they held off until the United Nations Security Council and the European Union agreed new multilateral sanctions. But the lawmakers then declared that still tougher measures were needed.

“The U.N. sanctions, though a good first step, are quite tepid. And they are tepid because there are other members of the Security Council who want to keep doing that business with Iran … The United States therefore has to pass these unilateral sanctions,” Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski said during debate in the Senate.

The legislation penalizes companies supplying Iran with gasoline as well as international banking institutions involved with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its nuclear program or what the United States calls its support for terrorist activity.

It would effectively deprive foreign banks of access to the U.S. financial system if they do business with key Iranian banks or the Revolutionary Guards.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran’s financial partners would be hit with new unilateral sanctions under draft legislation proposed by U.S. House of Representatives and Senate negotiators, lawmakers announced on Monday in a move aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program.

The legislation would effectively deprive foreign banks of access to the U.S. financial system if they do business with key Iranian banks or its Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The proposal, which also includes sanctions on Iran’s gasoline suppliers, was announced in a joint statement by Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Howard Berman, both Democrats. It is being circulated among House and Senate negotiators and will have to pass both chambers to become law.

Key lawmakers want Congress to pass the bill by early next month to tighten existing U.S. sanctions on Iran and build on sanctions agreed by the U.N. Security Council and European Union.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration appreciates that House and Senate leaders have forged a “strong bill” that builds on the U.N. sanctions.

“We will continue to work with the Congress over the coming days as it finalizes work on this important bill, and in our ongoing efforts to hold Iran accountable,” Gibbs said in a statement.

There is bipartisan support for the goal of pressuring Iran to stop its nuclear work, which Washington suspects is aimed at bomb-making. But some Republicans thought the draft looked weaker than they had hoped, a Republican aide said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she could not promise that lawmakers would approve funding by early next month for President Barack Obama’s Afghan troop increase.

Obama asked Congress in February for $33 billion to help pay for 30,000 additional troops he is sending to Afghanistan this year. The Senate approved the money in May, adding some domestic disaster relief as well.

But the measure stalled in the House amid growing doubts about the Afghanistan conflict, and other funding demands in a time of scarcity.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey, who said last year that adding more U.S. troops to Afghanistan was “a fool’s errand,” has not asked the panel to vote on the bill.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Congress this week to approve the money by the U.S. July 4 holiday if possible, to avoid the Pentagon having to juggle accounts and possibly lay off civilians later in the summer.

“That was our hope,” she told a news conference when asked about House action by then. “Hope that will be soon. But I don’t want to give any dates, because then you’ll say I didn’t make the date.”

She sought to assign some blame for the uncertainty to minority Republicans, most of whom supported the Afghan troop increase. Pelosi said the Republicans were now looking for an “excuse” to oppose the funding bill.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The chief of the Pentagon’s Missile Defence Agency assured U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday that the new treaty with Moscow cutting nuclear arms does not limit Washington’s missile defence plans, as the Obama administration sought to convince treaty skeptics in Congress.

Winning over Republicans who are among the most stalwart supporters of U.S. missile defence programs is critical to getting Senate approval of the new START treaty that President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed in April.

A Senate supermajority of 67 votes is needed for ratification and the Obama administration hopes for a vote this year.

“There are no limitations in the treaty that affect our plans for developing missile defence,” Lieutenant General Patrick O’Reilly, director of the Missile Defence Agency, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The pact reduces the strategic nuclear arsenals of both countries. Obama administration officials repeatedly have declared it does not cut defensive systems that Washington is developing with the goal of protecting against a small number of missiles that might be fired by “rogue” states such as North Korea or Iran.

But some Republicans already skeptical of Obama’s attempts to “reset” relations with Russia and his revamping last year of the Bush administration’s missile defense program, keep looking for possible concessions his administration may be making to Moscow.

They have pointed to a clause in the new START that prohibits the conversion of long-range missile launchers into missile defence launchers. Republican Senator James Risch asked Wednesday whether this is not a constraint.

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – There were no secret deals made with Moscow on missile defense or any other issue during negotiations on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty, the chief U.S. negotiator on the pact said on Tuesday.

Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller was trying to assuage critics who say they fear the Obama administration made explicit or implicit concessions to the Kremlin that could limit the future development of U.S. missile defenses.

“Let me state unequivocally today on the record before this committee that there were no, I repeat no, backroom deals made in connection with the new START treaty; not on missile defense nor on any other issue,” Gottemoeller told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Senator Jim DeMint, one of the treaty’s skeptics, said he would continue to press for the transcript of the negotiations with the Russians to be released before the Senate votes on whether to approve the treaty.

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the treaty in April, but Senate consent is required for the document to go into force.

The pact commits the two countries with 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons to significant cuts in their strategic arsenals, although still leaving them with more than enough firepower to annihilate each other.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry says he wants the panel to vote on the treaty before the August recess, so the full Senate can approve it later this year. The treaty needs a super-majority of 67 votes for Senate approval, so Obama, a Democrat, will need some Republican support.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress will pass further sanctions on Iran this month, a Democratic lawmaker predicted on Wednesday, calling new U.N. measures a critical step but urging tougher action to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

Capitol Hill Republicans mocked the U.N. resolution as weak, and said it was more important than ever that Congress pass its own set of crippling sanctions on Iran.

House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman said the United States was looking to major allies in Europe and elsewhere to impose tougher measures to pressure Iran over its nuclear work. Iran denies Western allegations it is seeking nuclear weapons, insisting its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful energy purposes only.

“The U.S. Congress will do its part by passing sanctions legislation later this month,” Berman said in a statement.

He did not say what further U.S. sanctions might include. Both the House and Senate have passed legislation that would largely keep companies worldwide that supply gasoline to Iran from doing business with the United States.

The resolution passed by the 15-nation Security Council followed five months of negotiations among the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia. With 12 votes in favor, it received the least support of the four Iran sanctions resolutions adopted since 2006.

The four Western powers had wanted much tougher measures — some targeting Iran’s energy sector — but Beijing and Moscow succeeded in diluting the steps outlined in the 10-page resolution.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States should talk to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, former U.S. diplomat Ryan Crocker said on Tuesday. But current U.S. officials rejected dealing with the group listed as a terrorist organization by Washington.

Crocker, who was U.S. ambassador in Baghdad from 2007 to 2009, suggested Washington should engage with Hezbollah in the same way that Americans had engaged with some former Sunni insurgents in Iraq. As a result, they turned against al Qaeda helped and reverse the tide of sectarian conflict.

“One thing I learned in Iraq is that engagement can be extremely valuable in ending an insurgency,” Crocker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“We cannot mess with our adversary’s mind if we are not talking to him,” Crocker said. “Hezbollah is a part of the Lebanese political landscape, and we should deal with it directly.”

Hezbollah, meaning “Party of God” in Arabic, shares the Shi’ite Islamist ideology of Iran. It was set up with the help of Iranian Revolutionary Guards to fight Israeli forces that invaded Lebanon in 1982 and aims ultimately to destroy the Jewish state.

It is now part of a national unity government in Lebanon, and also the most powerful military force there. It still has strong support from Tehran and is also backed by Damascus.

Crocker’s suggestion followed recent comments by White House official John Brennan that the Obama administration wanted to build up “moderate elements” in Hezbollah.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate approved funds Thursday to pay for President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan troop increase but rejected a demand that he submit a timetable to bring forces home.

The chamber’s top Democrats were split over an Afghan exit strategy, with some influential lawmakers backing the call for one, a division likely to raise hackles in the White House.

Their support could encourage other liberal Democrats who are pushing for a similar proposal in the House of Representatives, where many lawmakers are also under pressure before congressional elections in November.

The House is expected to take up its version of the war funds legislation next month.

Most of the $33 billion in war spending approved by the Senate is to finance the 30,000 troop “surge” in Afghanistan that Obama announced in December, although some of it covers expenses in Iraq.

An additional $4 billion is for the State Department to fund the “civilian surge,” bringing economic aid to Afghanistan and its neighbor, Pakistan. The new money is in addition to about $130 billion Congress already approved for Afghanistan and Iraq for this year — and over $300 billion since 2001 just for the war in Afghanistan.

The Senate voted 67-28 to fund the troops. Many of those opposing the funding were Republicans who said they were concerned that ways were not found to pay for the new spending with cuts to other programs.