I’m pleased to report that the House and Senate yesterday took final action on H.R. 2194 to impose strong sanctions against the Iranian regime in an effort to undermine its pursuit of nuclear weapons.  This measure, which the President is expected to sign into law, will discourage foreign companies from supplying Iran with refined gasoline or helping the country expand or construct refineries by prohibiting them from doing business in the United States.  Because Iran imports roughly forty percent of its refined gasoline, these penalties are designed to limit Iran’s access to this critical fuel and place substantial pressure on the regime to abandon its nuclear ambitions.  Similarly, the measure would discourage overseas financial institutions from doing business with Iran’s extremely dangerous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by denying these institutions access to the U.S. financial system. 

Congress took this action a few weeks after the United Nations imposed a new round of marginally important sanctions on Iran.  While this was a step forward, the latest set of UN sanctions fall far short of the crippling sanctions that U.S. officials and many foreign affairs experts believe are necessary to pressure Iran to change its currently hostile course.  To maximize pressure on the regime, I believe the United Nations and our European allies need to promptly pass sanctions resembling those imposed by our nation.  If the world doesn’t unite and take strong and authoritative action, Iran’s radical leaders will march forward with its nuclear weapons program, placing U.S. security interests in the Middle East at utmost risk.