Senate passes AIPAC sponsored Iran Sanctions Act

Last week the Senate passed legislation to impose economic sanctions against Iran. The House version of the bill sponsored by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) passed in December. There is a separate Petroleum Sanctions act sponsored by Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL) and Howard Berman (D-CA) that passed the House in October. The Senate bill was sponsored by Democrat Chris Dodd and Republican Richard Shelby.

The sanctions would target oil which Iran's economy is dependent on. The bill would also ban trade with companies that do business with Iran. The President has not stated whether he will sign the bill into law but did warn Iran that it would suffer "growing consequences" if they ignored international obligations. President Obama introduced similar legislation when he was Senator.

US sanctions alone will not cripple Iran's economy since Russia and China are dependent on Iran for oil. Hillary Clinton is now pressuring China to cooperate on Iran, but we have little leverage since we are in debt to them. Congressman Ron Paul observed, “Are we to conclude, with this in mind, that China or its major state-owned corporations will be forbidden by this legislation from doing business with the United States? What of our other trading partners who currently do business in Iran’s petroleum sector or insure those who do so? Has anyone seen an estimate of how this sanctions act will affect the US economy if it is actually enforced?”

This bill will send a clear message that America is an enemy of Iran and will likely cause more harm to the Iranian people than to the regime. The National Iranian-American Council says "the bill will impose "indiscriminate, unilateral sanctions that will hurt the Iranian people and play into the hands of Iran's rulers, who continue to commit flagrant human rights violations." More

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