US Congress may hold off on new Iran sanctions for holiday

After Iran threatened to break the first-step Geneva nuclear accord if new sanctions were imposed, Secretary of State John Kerry appealed to the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday to hold back on bipartisan legislation for fear of breaking the deal which prohibits new sanctions for the six-month interim period.
Rep. Juan Vargas (D) said the deal “seems to be naive, frankly on its face.” But other prominent Democrats, including Senator Charles Schumer of New York, support new sanctions with deferred imposition, as does reportedly Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. 

In Vienna, the six world powers who signed the deal, the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran,  meeting on its implementation, failed on the second unscheduled day of meetings Tuesday to agree on a start date for the six-month nuclear freeze to run. They meet again Wednesday.