(Washington, DC) - Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-Queens/L.I.) today called on the World Bank to freeze funding for Iran, in light of its nuclear ambitions and its state-sponsorship of terror. In a recent letter, Ackerman, along with other members of Congress, urged World Bank President Robert Zoellick to review current projects in order to realign the policies of the Bank with U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran.

“The World Bank’s current policies towards Iran are undermining both international stability and the goals of multiple international organizations, including the World Bank itself,” commented Ackerman.

Freedom House, a prominent human rights monitoring organization, has called the Iranian government pervasively corrupt, and noted limited religious and academic freedom. Iranian government leaders have frequently called for the destruction of Israel and public estimates of Iranian support for the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas run into the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Both the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have found Iran in violation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The United Nations Security Council has twice imposed economic sanctions on Iran in hopes of persuading the regime in Tehran to end its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.

The World Bank is set to disburse $220 million to Iran in Fiscal Year 2007, with more than $870 million remaining in the pipeline for Fiscal Years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

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