Bush Signs Sanctions Bill Against Iran's Partners Targeting Russia, China
U.S. Bush Signs Sanctions Bill Against Iran’s Partners Targeting Russia, China
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/10/...anctiona.shtml
Created: 01.10.2006 12:32 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:27 MSK, 9 minutes ago
U.S. President George W. Bush has signed into law a set of sanctions targeting foreign countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran and sell it advanced weaponry, AFP reports.
The measure, passed by the Senate Saturday after clearing the House of Representatives a day earlier, came as Iran and the European Union are engaged in delicate negotiations designed to persuade Iran to halt its enrichment work and avoid a major international showdown.
“I applaud Congress for demonstrating its bipartisan commitment to confronting the Iranian regime’s repressive and destabilizing activities by passing the Iran Freedom Support Act,” Bush said in a statement.
“This legislation will codify U.S. sanctions on Iran while providing my administration with flexibility to tailor those sanctions in appropriate circumstances and impose sanctions upon entities that aid the Iranian regime’s development of nuclear weapons,” he said.
Mindful of the situation in Iraq, lawmakers warned that nothing in this document should be “construed as authorizing the use of force against Iran.”
“My administration is working on many fronts to address the challenges posed by the Iranian regime’s pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, support for terrorism, efforts to destabilize the Middle East and repression of the fundamental human rights of the citizens of Iran,” Bush said.
“We are engaged in intense diplomacy alongside our allies, and have also undertaken financial measures to counter the actions of the Iranian regime,” he said.
Although it does not name any countries, the measure is seen as a clear warning to Russia and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council that have resisted calls for new international sanctions against Tehran in response to its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, AFP adds.
Russia is involved in an 800-million-dollar project to help Iran build a nuclear power plant in Bushehr and sells it modern weaponry. China has been accused of supplying the Islamic republic with advanced missile technology.
“This act also provides important new authority for the administration to block financial transactions related to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction programs and encourages the administration to use all available leverage over Russia to gain Russian support for multilateral sanctions against Iran,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
Senator Norm Coleman said: “For the sake of our national security, the U.S. must ensure that the sensitive nuclear technology that we share with partner countries does not fall into the hands of the Iranians.
”The Iranians have demonstrated that they are deceitful, obstructionist and bent on destroying
Israel and all of Western civilization. We know where this path is going to lead. Aiding Iran to become a nuclear power, even inadvertently, is unacceptable,“ he said.
The Iran Freedom Support Act states that it should be the policy of the United States ”not to bring into force an agreement for cooperation with the government of any country that is assisting the nuclear program of Iran or transferring advanced conventional weapons or missiles.“
The measure calls for this policy to remain in effect until Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities and committed to verifiably and permanently refrain from such nuclear work in the future, or until the targeted country has severed ties with its Iranian partners.
Under the measure, the U.S. government may also award grants to pro-democracy radio and television stations that broadcast into Iran.
”We have to increase our capability to mine resources and intelligence about Iran,“ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. ”And one of the challenges is that we haven’t been in the country for 26 years.“
