The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved on Thursday the most sweeping sanctions against Iran since a nuclear deal was reached in 2015.

The New York Times reported that the Trump administration has supported new sanctions against Iran, which were approved 18 to 3 by the committee and could receive a full Senate vote as early as next month.

The measure is claimed to be punishing Iran over its ballistic missile program, alleged support for terrorism and human rights violations.

Iran says its missile program is not banned under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as its missiles are defensive and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

In a series of Twitter messages, former Secretary of State John Kerry urged the U.S. senators not to move ahead with legislation saying “this is not the moment for a new Iran bill”.

“This is a time to tread carefully,” Kerry advised the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“We need to consider the implications of confrontation without conversation,” he tweeted.

In 2015, Iran and the 5+1 group (the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany) finalized the text of the JCPOA. The nuclear agreement took effect in January 2016.