Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009
Encyclopedia
The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA) is a bill passed by the U.S. Congress that would apply further sanctions on the government of Iran
. A previous iteration of the bill, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009 (IRPSA), would extend U.S. economic sanctions currently placed on Iran
under the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996
and punish companies and individuals who aid Iran's petroleum sector. This increased pressure would be part of the larger campaign over the Iranian nuclear program
, and aims to target Iranian dependence on imports for its gasoline needs. A similarly named bill was originally proposed in the Senate (S.908), though this was later subsumed into the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 (S.2799). Both the House and Senate versions passed moved to conference. The final bill was passed by the House (408-8) and Senate (99-0) on June 24, 2010 and signed into law by President Obama on July 1, 2010.
, it currently does not have the capacity to refine enough oil to meet its own demand, and thus imports a reported 40% of its gasoline and another 11% of its diesel fuel. According to an AIPAC brief from May 2009, nearly 80% of Iranian gasoline imports come from Vitol
and Trafigura
, while other companies that sell or have recently sold gasoline to Iran include Reliance Industries
, Glencore
, Total
, BP, Shell
, Petronas
, CNPC, Zhenhua, and Litasco. Besides those companies selling gasoline directly to Iran, IRPSA would target a number of other companies involved in the sector, including those aiding the Iranian refining industry, insurers, and shipping companies.
Despite the reliance on foreign suppliers, the 2007 Gas Rationing Plan
did lead to a decline in imports. The nine existing refineries are managed by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company
and reportedly had a refining capacity of 1451000 oilbbl/d as of 2008. Iran is working towards doubling this capacity to 3000000 oilbbl/d by the year 2012, at which point it may become a net exporter of gasoline. In mid-November 2009, Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi said that Iran was preparing, if necessary, to produce an extra 14 million liters of gasoline per day to counter possible sanctions, matched with a 70 day domestic stockpile of gasoline and a future reduction in gasoline subsidies.
In September 2010, Iran said it had coped by converting at least two petrochemical plants to gasoline production, though it used a generally inferior process that initially produces benzene
.
The idea of reducing Iranian gasoline imports as a means of pressuring Iran was examined during the administration of President George W. Bush
but ultimately not taken up. During the 2008 presidential campaign
, then candidate Barack Obama
brought up the idea in a presidential debate
.
on April 28, 2009 as S.908 by Senator Evan Bayh
and has since garnered 77 cosponsors. It was then introduced in the United States House of Representatives
on April 30 by Representative Howard L. Berman and has attracted 343 cosponsors. The move elicited several responses from Iran, with an official from the National Iranian Oil Company
declaring that "We can manage...we have alternatives and we can do something about consumption and also production" and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki
stating, "If they go to decide in such decision, they will see our reaction". The spokesman for the Foreign Ministry also said that "Sanctions and threats will not intimidate us and especially not affect our national will in following our rights".
A New York Times report in August 2009 stated that the proposal to target Iranian gasoline via companies involved had been discussed between Israeli officials and National Security Advisor James L. Jones
as well as with allies in Europe.
According to Rep. Berman, he will move the bill forward in October 2009 barring "some compelling evidence" not do to so; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
has stated that he would then bring it to the House floor.
In the aftermath of the September 25 revelation that Iran had built a secret uranium enrichment facility near Qom
, Berman reiterated his commitment to push IRPSA forward in October and wrote an editorial in The Washington Post
describing the sanctions and their purpose.
On October 28, the bill was marked up in the House Foreign Affairs Committee under chairman Howard Berman and then passed by a voice vote
. The following day the Senate Banking Committee
under chairman Christopher Dodd
unanimously approved the Senate version of the bill; in fact, the Senate bill passed was entitled the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 (S.2799), which incorporated IRPSA provisions.
In late November the Obama administration was reported to be preparing new sanctions against Iran, though one official who discussed IRPSA said that ""The problem with congressional measures is you can't turn them on and off as you like...We've been having ongoing discussions with the Hill," to tailor the bills and slow them up."
Democratic comments on December 3 indicated that they would bring IRPSA to the floor of the House of Representatives in two weeks time and a push would be made to pass it before Congress leaves at the end of the month for a holiday recess. The bill was finally brought to the House floor on December 15 and was passed with 412 votes in favor, 12 against, and 4 present. At the time the Senate's bill was held up in part because of a letter sent by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg
to Senator John Kerry
, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asking him to temporarily delay the bill and outlining several concerns "including the lack of flexibility, inefficient monetary thresholds and penalty levels, and blacklisting that could cause unintended foreign policy consequences".
On January 26, the AFP
quoted Senate majority leader Harry Reid
as saying that the Senate may find time to take up its version of IRPSA in the coming weeks. Just two days later, Reid brought S.2799 to the floor for a voice vote, and it was passed. Right before passage Senator John McCain
wished to add an amendment to target Iranians accused of human rights abuses, but Reid wanted to avoid a situation where other senators began introducing their own additional amendments. After the intervention of Senator Joe Liberman, McCain relented with the assurance that his amendment would be included in the conference report.
Letters signed by majorities in both Houses of Congress were to be sent to President Obama on April 19 urging him to quickly implement Congressional sanctions against Iran; the Senate-House conference for IRPSA was scheduled for that week. On April 28 the first conference meeting took place. Due to reported progress on the UN Security Council sanctions track and expectations that the EU would make further decisions on Iran in mid-June, conference co-chairs Berman and Dodd announced on May 25 that they did not intend to pass IRPSA until the second half of June. After a new round of UN sanctions was approved on June 9, Berman reaffirmed his intention to bring IRPSA to a vote before the July 4 recess but after an EU meeting on June 16 and 17.
and other Jewish organizations participating in the National Jewish Leadership Advocacy Day on Iran urged the adoption of IRPSA and similar bills. The bill is also supported by United Against Nuclear Iran
, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
, the American Jewish Committee
, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and J Street
. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren
released a general statement of support after the passage of H.R.2194. The Washington Post
wrote in an editorial on February 13, 2010 that President Obama should sign IRPSA, stating that although "secondary sanctions are a blunt instrument... the threat of them might be needed to prod the Security Council or an ad-hoc Western alliance into taking steps that will break the Iranian regime's dangerous gathering of momentum."
A report by The Weekly Standard
said that several provisions in the Senate bill had received opposition from the Export-Import Bank of the United States
, which has made loan guarantees to some foreign companies that conduct business with Iran. The National Iranian American Council
came out in opposition to the House bill, stating that it would harm the Iranian people, undermine President Obama's diplomacy, and divide American allies. Americans for Peace Now
is also opposed to the bill. Nine business groups (Business Roundtable
, Coalition for Employment through Exports, Emergency Committee for American Trade, National Association of Manufacturers
, National Foreign Trade Council
, Organization for International Investment
, USA*Engage, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and U.S. Council for International Business) have come out against the bill in a joint letter to National Security Advisor Jim Jones
and NEC Chairman Larry Summers, in which they stated that such "unilateral, extraterritorial, and overly broad" sanctions would be counterproductive in the mission to stop Iran from achieving nuclear weapons.
:
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. A previous iteration of the bill, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009 (IRPSA), would extend U.S. economic sanctions currently placed on Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
under the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996
Iran and Libya Sanctions Act
The Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 was a 1996 act of Congress that imposed economic sanctions on firms doing business with Iran and Libya. On September 30, 2006, the act was renamed to the Iran Sanctions Act , as it no longer applied to Libya, and extended until December 31, 2011...
and punish companies and individuals who aid Iran's petroleum sector. This increased pressure would be part of the larger campaign over the Iranian nuclear program
Nuclear program of Iran
The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. The support, encouragement and participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
, and aims to target Iranian dependence on imports for its gasoline needs. A similarly named bill was originally proposed in the Senate (S.908), though this was later subsumed into the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 (S.2799). Both the House and Senate versions passed moved to conference. The final bill was passed by the House (408-8) and Senate (99-0) on June 24, 2010 and signed into law by President Obama on July 1, 2010.
Background
While Iran is the fourth largest oil exporter in the world and second in OPECOPEC
OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...
, it currently does not have the capacity to refine enough oil to meet its own demand, and thus imports a reported 40% of its gasoline and another 11% of its diesel fuel. According to an AIPAC brief from May 2009, nearly 80% of Iranian gasoline imports come from Vitol
Vitol
The Vitol group is an energy trading company founded in Rotterdam in 1966. Vitol operates worldwide and, along with Glencore and Trafigura, is one of the world's top three crude oil traders. Vitol's headquarters are located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and Geneva, Switzerland...
and Trafigura
Trafigura
Trafigura is an Amsterdam-based multinational company founded in 1993 trading in base metals and energy, including oil. the company had equity of more than $2 billion and a turnover of $73 billion that generated $440 million of profit....
, while other companies that sell or have recently sold gasoline to Iran include Reliance Industries
Reliance Industries
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian conglomerate company headquartered at Mumbai, India. The company operates through three business segments: petrochemicals, refining, and oil and gas, other segment of the company includes textile, retail business, special economic zone development and...
, Glencore
Glencore
Glencore International plc is a multinational mining and commodities trading company headquartered in Baar, Switzerland and with its registered office in Saint Helier, Jersey...
, Total
Total S.A.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...
, BP, Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
, Petronas
Petronas
PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and...
, CNPC, Zhenhua, and Litasco. Besides those companies selling gasoline directly to Iran, IRPSA would target a number of other companies involved in the sector, including those aiding the Iranian refining industry, insurers, and shipping companies.
Despite the reliance on foreign suppliers, the 2007 Gas Rationing Plan
2007 Gas Rationing Plan in Iran
2007 Gasoline Rationing Plan in Iran was launched by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet to reduce that country's fuel consumption. Although Iran is one of the world's largest producers of petroleum, rapid increases in demand and limited refining capacity has forced the country to import about...
did lead to a decline in imports. The nine existing refineries are managed by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company
National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company
National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company is part of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran. NIORDC was established on March 8, 1992 and undertook to perform all operations relating to refining and distribution of oil products....
and reportedly had a refining capacity of 1451000 oilbbl/d as of 2008. Iran is working towards doubling this capacity to 3000000 oilbbl/d by the year 2012, at which point it may become a net exporter of gasoline. In mid-November 2009, Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi said that Iran was preparing, if necessary, to produce an extra 14 million liters of gasoline per day to counter possible sanctions, matched with a 70 day domestic stockpile of gasoline and a future reduction in gasoline subsidies.
In September 2010, Iran said it had coped by converting at least two petrochemical plants to gasoline production, though it used a generally inferior process that initially produces benzene
Benzene
Benzene is an organic chemical compound. It is composed of 6 carbon atoms in a ring, with 1 hydrogen atom attached to each carbon atom, with the molecular formula C6H6....
.
The idea of reducing Iranian gasoline imports as a means of pressuring Iran was examined during the administration of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
but ultimately not taken up. During the 2008 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, then candidate Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
brought up the idea in a presidential debate
United States presidential election debates, 2008
The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates sponsored four debates for the 2008 U.S. presidential general election, which took place at various locations around the United States in September and October 2008...
.
Legislative history
IRPSA was introduced in the United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on April 28, 2009 as S.908 by Senator Evan Bayh
Evan Bayh
Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III is a lawyer, advisor and former Democratic politician who served as the junior U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011. He earlier served as the 46th Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997. Bayh is a current Fox News contributor as of March 14, 2011.Bayh first held...
and has since garnered 77 cosponsors. It was then introduced in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
on April 30 by Representative Howard L. Berman and has attracted 343 cosponsors. The move elicited several responses from Iran, with an official from the National Iranian Oil Company
National Iranian Oil Company
The National Iranian Oil Company , a government-owned corporation under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran, is an oil and natural gas producer and distributor headquartered in Tehran. It was established in 1948...
declaring that "We can manage...we have alternatives and we can do something about consumption and also production" and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki
Manouchehr Mottaki
Manouchehr Mottaki is an Iranian politician and diplomat. He was the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Whilst technically appointed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he is considered to be closer to more pragmatic conservative factions and during the 2005 presidential election, he was the campaign...
stating, "If they go to decide in such decision, they will see our reaction". The spokesman for the Foreign Ministry also said that "Sanctions and threats will not intimidate us and especially not affect our national will in following our rights".
A New York Times report in August 2009 stated that the proposal to target Iranian gasoline via companies involved had been discussed between Israeli officials and National Security Advisor James L. Jones
James L. Jones
James Logan Jones, Jr. is the former United States National Security Advisor and a retired United States Marine Corps General....
as well as with allies in Europe.
According to Rep. Berman, he will move the bill forward in October 2009 barring "some compelling evidence" not do to so; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
Steny Hoyer
Steny Hamilton Hoyer is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1981. The district includes a large swath of rural and suburban territory southeast of Washington, D.C.. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
has stated that he would then bring it to the House floor.
In the aftermath of the September 25 revelation that Iran had built a secret uranium enrichment facility near Qom
Qom
Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
, Berman reiterated his commitment to push IRPSA forward in October and wrote an editorial in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
describing the sanctions and their purpose.
On October 28, the bill was marked up in the House Foreign Affairs Committee under chairman Howard Berman and then passed by a voice vote
Voice vote
A voice vote is a voting method used by deliberative assemblies in which a vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding verbally....
. The following day the Senate Banking Committee
United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to: banks and banking, price controls, deposit insurance, export promotion and controls, federal monetary policy, financial aid to commerce and industry, issuance of redemption of notes,...
under chairman Christopher Dodd
Christopher Dodd
Christopher John "Chris" Dodd is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic Party politician who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut for a thirty-year period ending with the 111th United States Congress....
unanimously approved the Senate version of the bill; in fact, the Senate bill passed was entitled the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009 (S.2799), which incorporated IRPSA provisions.
In late November the Obama administration was reported to be preparing new sanctions against Iran, though one official who discussed IRPSA said that ""The problem with congressional measures is you can't turn them on and off as you like...We've been having ongoing discussions with the Hill," to tailor the bills and slow them up."
Democratic comments on December 3 indicated that they would bring IRPSA to the floor of the House of Representatives in two weeks time and a push would be made to pass it before Congress leaves at the end of the month for a holiday recess. The bill was finally brought to the House floor on December 15 and was passed with 412 votes in favor, 12 against, and 4 present. At the time the Senate's bill was held up in part because of a letter sent by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg
James Steinberg
James Braidy "Jim" Steinberg is an American academic and political advisor, and former Deputy Secretary of State. He is currently Dean and Professor of Social Science, International Affairs, and Law at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.-Early career:He...
to Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asking him to temporarily delay the bill and outlining several concerns "including the lack of flexibility, inefficient monetary thresholds and penalty levels, and blacklisting that could cause unintended foreign policy consequences".
On January 26, the AFP
Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
quoted Senate majority leader Harry Reid
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...
as saying that the Senate may find time to take up its version of IRPSA in the coming weeks. Just two days later, Reid brought S.2799 to the floor for a voice vote, and it was passed. Right before passage Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
wished to add an amendment to target Iranians accused of human rights abuses, but Reid wanted to avoid a situation where other senators began introducing their own additional amendments. After the intervention of Senator Joe Liberman, McCain relented with the assurance that his amendment would be included in the conference report.
Letters signed by majorities in both Houses of Congress were to be sent to President Obama on April 19 urging him to quickly implement Congressional sanctions against Iran; the Senate-House conference for IRPSA was scheduled for that week. On April 28 the first conference meeting took place. Due to reported progress on the UN Security Council sanctions track and expectations that the EU would make further decisions on Iran in mid-June, conference co-chairs Berman and Dodd announced on May 25 that they did not intend to pass IRPSA until the second half of June. After a new round of UN sanctions was approved on June 9, Berman reaffirmed his intention to bring IRPSA to a vote before the July 4 recess but after an EU meeting on June 16 and 17.
Supporters and opponents
On September 10 the Anti-Defamation LeagueAnti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
and other Jewish organizations participating in the National Jewish Leadership Advocacy Day on Iran urged the adoption of IRPSA and similar bills. The bill is also supported by United Against Nuclear Iran
United Against Nuclear Iran
United Against Nuclear Iran is a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization that seeks "to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Along with other advocacy campaigns, the organization leads efforts to pressure companies to stop...
, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...
, the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and J Street
J Street
J Street is a nonprofit liberal advocacy group based in the United States whose stated aim is to promote American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically. It was founded in April 2008....
. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren
Michael Oren
Michael B. Oren is an American-born Israeli historian and author and the Israeli ambassador to the United States...
released a general statement of support after the passage of H.R.2194. The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
wrote in an editorial on February 13, 2010 that President Obama should sign IRPSA, stating that although "secondary sanctions are a blunt instrument... the threat of them might be needed to prod the Security Council or an ad-hoc Western alliance into taking steps that will break the Iranian regime's dangerous gathering of momentum."
A report by The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
said that several provisions in the Senate bill had received opposition from the Export-Import Bank of the United States
Export-Import Bank of the United States
The Export-Import Bank of the United States is the official export credit agency of the United States federal government. It was established in 1934 by an executive order, and made an independent agency in the Executive branch by Congress in 1945, for the purposes of financing and insuring...
, which has made loan guarantees to some foreign companies that conduct business with Iran. The National Iranian American Council
National Iranian American Council
The National Iranian American Council is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization "dedicated to advancing the interests of the Iranian-American community." Trita Parsi is the organization's current president and founder.-Formation:...
came out in opposition to the House bill, stating that it would harm the Iranian people, undermine President Obama's diplomacy, and divide American allies. Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now , the United States partner of Israel’s Shalom Achshav organization, is an American coalition working to help Israel achieve a secure peace with the Arab states and the Palestinian people...
is also opposed to the bill. Nine business groups (Business Roundtable
Business Roundtable
The Business Roundtable is a politically conservative group of chief executive officers of major U.S. corporations formed to promote pro-business public policy.-History:...
, Coalition for Employment through Exports, Emergency Committee for American Trade, National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Manufacturers
The National Association of Manufacturers is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C. with 10 additional offices across the country...
, National Foreign Trade Council
National Foreign Trade Council
Founded in 1914, the National Foreign Trade Council is the oldest and largest trade association advocating an open, rules-based international trade system. It serves hundreds of member companies in activities encompassing international trade policy, international tax policy, human resources, and...
, Organization for International Investment
Organization for International Investment
Based in Washington, D.C., the Organization for International Investment is a trade association representing the interests of US subsidiaries of overseas corporations...
, USA*Engage, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and U.S. Council for International Business) have come out against the bill in a joint letter to National Security Advisor Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
and NEC Chairman Larry Summers, in which they stated that such "unilateral, extraterritorial, and overly broad" sanctions would be counterproductive in the mission to stop Iran from achieving nuclear weapons.
Provisions
Major provisions of H.R.2194 as summarized by the Congressional Research ServiceCongressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service , known as "Congress's think tank", is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a...
:
- Amends the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 to direct the President to impose two or more current sanctions under such Act if a person has, with actual knowledge, made an investment of $20 million or more (or any combination of investments of at least $5 million which in the aggregate equals or exceeds $20 million in any 12-month period) that directly and significantly contributed to Iran's ability to develop its petroleum resources.
- Directs the President to impose: (1) sanctions established under this Act (in addition to any current sanctions imposed under the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996) if a person has, with actual knowledge, sold, leased, or provided to Iran any goods, services, technology, information, or support that would allow Iran to maintain or expand its domestic production of refined petroleum resources, including any assistance in refinery construction, modernization, or repair; and (2) sanctions established under this Act if a person has, with actual knowledge, provided Iran with refined petroleum resources or engaged in any activity that could contribute to Iran's ability to import refined petroleum resources, including providing shipping, insurance, or financing services for such activity.
- Establishes additional sanctions prohibiting specified foreign exchange, banking, and property transactions.
See also
- Sanctions against IranSanctions against IranThis article outlines economic, trade, scientific and military sanctions against Iran, which have been imposed by the U.S. government, or under U.S. pressure by the international community through the United Nations Security Council...
- Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996
- The Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act of 2007The Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act of 2007The Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act of 2007, introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Representative Mark Kirk, Republican-Illinois, and Representative Rob Andrews, Democrat-New Jersey, would threaten sanctions against any company or individual that provides Iran with refined...
- 2007 Gas Rationing Plan in Iran2007 Gas Rationing Plan in Iran2007 Gasoline Rationing Plan in Iran was launched by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet to reduce that country's fuel consumption. Although Iran is one of the world's largest producers of petroleum, rapid increases in demand and limited refining capacity has forced the country to import about...
External links
- Why Is Iran Importing Gasoline? from SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
- Iranian Gas Sanctions Seem Inevitable...Will They Work? from CSISCenter for Strategic and International StudiesThe Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University...
- The New Iran Sanctions: Worse Than the Old Ones from Foreign Policy