Remarks of Rep. Gary L. Ackerman on H.R. 7112: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act of 2008

(Washington, DC) - Mr. Speaker, in considering this bill, this package of sanctions and divestment authority for states and localities, we should keep foremost in our minds that we are in a race. I’m not referring to our upcoming elections, but the race between the civilized world, and the nuclear ambitions of Iran.

One of us will win and one of us will lose. If the world wins, Iran will not become a nuclear weapons-state; there will not be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East; and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will not collapse.

If Iran wins, the chief sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East, the patron of Hamas and Hezbollah, a hegemonic nation led by fanatical religious zealots, will be able to threaten the global economy and the security of the United States and our allies from behind a nuclear shield.

And we are just about to lose this race. Iran is not only ahead, it is sprinting to the finish. Its proliferation potential is now a simple math problem: Iran is now producing about 2.5 kilograms of low-enriched uranium (LEU) per day and has produced an estimated 200-250 kilograms of LEU, just since May.

For a crash bomb program, Iran could use the LEU as feed stock, dramatically shortening the time to produce weapons-grade uranium. With 700 to 800 kilograms of LEU fed into its centrifuges, Iran could produce the 20-25 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium required for a crude atomic bomb. Other estimates suggest that 1,000 to 1,700 kilograms of LEU would be necessary. Regardless, whether it’s 700 or 1,700 kilograms, Iranian proliferation is no longer a question of “if,” but  “when.”

The President has known about this threat since day one. He has known, and done next to nothing. The Bush Administration has adamantly refused to use existing U.S. sanctions laws against foreign companies investing in Iran's oil sector. But far worse, the Bush Administration has actively worked to stop Congress from adopting the tough and necessary legislation before us today.

Why? Do they believe that the past five years of slow-motion, U.S.-in-the-backseat diplomacy is just about to make a huge break-though? In light of Russia’s recent announcement that they have no intention of supporting additional UN Security Council sanctions on Iran, I’d like someone to explain how this huge breakthrough is supposed to happen.

With our Administration tied-up in an ideological knot, opposed to U.S. sanctions and unwilling to engage effectively itself, the question for Congress is what can we do to stop Iran? With so little time, our thinking about this problem needs to change.

Options that years ago may have seemed reckless–like sanctioning firms in allied countries and applying unilateral economic levers–have now become essential if we are going to be successful in peacefully getting Iran to back down.

Likewise, continuing doggedly with the current take-no-chances, small carrots, no-sticks diplomacy, which the Bush administration has insisted on, today looks like a roadmap to disaster.

Iranian proliferation is mere months away. That fact makes what is feckless, by definition, reckless. I am not calling for another war, I do not want air-strikes or a blockade. I want to avoid all that. But if we don’t want war, and we really don’t want a nuclear Iran, then we have an obligation to use every peaceful diplomatic, political and economic weapon at our disposal. If you don’t want bombs, than you have to have sanctions. Abjuring sanctions is a de facto call to arms.

I am grateful to the Chairman and the Ranking Member for their efforts in bringing this critical package of sanctions legislation to the floor. It deserves the enthusiastic support of every Member of the House. There isn’t a moment to lose.

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