(JNS.org) Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Congress not to pass more sanctions against Iran that may interfere with current negotiations between the P5+1 powers and the Islamic Republic. Instead, Clinton said, lawmakers should work together with the Obama administration to send a unified message to Iran. Iran received what the U.S. said was $7 billion in sanctions relief in the interim nuclear agreement that it reached with the P5+1 powers last November. While the deal says Iran cannot install any new centrifuges, in January the ongoing nuclear talks hit a snag with the revelation that Iran built a new advanced nuclear centrifuge.

“As President Obama has said, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed, while keeping all options on the table,” Clinton wrote in a letter to Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Yet Clinton added, “So long as Iran remains a sponsor of terrorism and a threat to global security, we will have to remain vigilant in defense of our allies and partners, including Israel.”