The White House warned Congress Tuesday that passing new sanctions -- even with a delayed launch date -- would undermine an interim nuclear deal.

The White House warned Congress Tuesday that passing new sanctions -- even with a delayed launch date -- would undermine an interim nuclear deal.

White House spokesman Jay Carney also warned a bipartisan coalition of senators, who are suspicions of the deal reached last month, that their move would be seen as a show of "bad faith" by US partners abroad.

The White House stepped up its rhetorical push to forestall new sanctions amid intense behind-the-scenes lobbying by top Obama administration officials targeting key lawmakers.

"Passing any new sanctions right now will undermine our efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to this issue by giving the Iranians an excuse to push the terms of the agreement on their side," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"If we pass sanctions now, even with the deferred trigger, which has been discussed, the Iranians and likely our international partners will see us as having negotiated in bad faith."

Carney argued that the passage of new US sanctions -- even with a built-in six month delay -- would threaten the unity of the international coalition that has leveled sanctions on Tehran.

He also said if the interim deal is not translated into a final pact that Iran abides by, the White House would support new sanctions against Iran.