Congress Asks for Sanctions Against Iran
By JANIE LORBER
A bipartisan group of 363 House lawmakers sent a letter to President Obama on Wednesday urging him to impose “crippling” sanctions on Iran with or without United Nations action.The letter guarantees that there is bipartisan support in Congress for “tough and decisive measures” against Iran and asks Mr. Obama to fulfill his July 2008 campaign pledge to do everything in his “power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
“Mr. President, you have stated this issue is a priority for your administration. You have attempted to engage the Iranian regime for over a year. You have gone to the United Nations Security Council in an effort to impose tough new sanctions on Iran. But time is not on our side,” the letter states. “We cannot allow those who would oppose or delay sanctions to govern either the timing or content of our efforts,” it says, referring to the hesitations of China and Russia, who can veto the effort.
“There is no greater or more immediate threat to President Obama’s vision and agenda of nonproliferation than Iran,” said Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, who co-authored the letter with Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, the chairman of the House Republican Conference.
As the lawmakers spoke Wednesday afternoon, two of the nation’s top military officials testified to members of the Senate Armed Service Committee that Iran could produce bomb-grade fuel for at least one nuclear weapon within a year.
The United Nations Security Council is considering a package of sanctions against Iran for what it has called repeated violations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. At the conclusion of Mr. Obama’s 47-nation nuclear summit Tuesday, he said that after four years of failed sanctions, the measures the Security Council adopts must be tough enough to get the attention of Iranian leaders. Iran was not present at the two-day conference in Washington.
The letter also urged Mr. Obama to sign and act on a bill passed overwhelmingly by both chambers that would limit the federal government’s ability to do business with companies that contribute to Iran’s development of petroleum resources. The move would be a separate, unilateral action that would bolster the steps at the international level.
“I don’t think that there is any other bill that is more important so far as furthering U.S. national security than this bill,” Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip, said. “It is imperative that Congress step up and pass Iran Petroleum Sanctions Act, so that we can see the implementation of real sanctions with real teeth.”
In December, the House approved a measure 412-12 and the Senate passed its own version of sanctions by voice vote on Jan. 28.
Mr. Cantor said Wednesday that he and Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House majority leader, will announce a time line for hashing out the differences between the two versions of the bill in the coming days.
On the Senate side, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York plan to send Mr. Obama a similar letter that is expected to have the signatures of close to three-quarters of the Senate