Some senators are insisting on renewing expiring sanctions against Iran, even as lawmakers decide whether to endorse the Obama administration’s landmark nuclear deal with the country. 

Though the administration is calling the move “premature,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Thursday said renewing existing sanctions set to expire next year will act as a bulwark against Iran’s ability to cheat on the deal.

“It seems to me that if you want a deterrent, Iran has to know consequences,” he told three members of Obama’s Cabinet during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Thursday.

“Maybe it will never be called into play. That’s fine, that’s good — hopefully it won't be called into play,” he added. “But they need to know what the consequences are.”

“I’m going to move to reauthorize them because I believe it should be part of the deterrence.”

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