Washington, D.C. - Mr. Chairman, several years ago we discovered that Iran was operating a secret program to enrich uranium and carry out other sensitive nuclear fuel cycle activities.

 

Iran’s failure to report these activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency was a blatant violation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

 

The more we’ve learned about Iran’s nuclear program in the intervening months, the more obvious it’s become that Tehran’s true intention is not peaceful power generation, but the development of a nuclear arsenal that could threaten the United States, our allies in the Middle East, and any other part of the world within the range of Iran’s increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles.

 

Any seeds of doubt on the purpose of Iran’s nuclear activities were dispelled once and for all by its outright rejection of a sensible proposal offered by our European allies and, more recently, Iran’s resumption of uranium enrichment in defiance of the international community.

 

The election of Iranian President Ahmadinejad has made the urgency of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons that much greater. 

 

His “messianic” world view, vocal support for “wiping Israel off the map,” and close ties to Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist organizations make the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran truly unimaginable.

 

Everyone hopes we can find a diplomatic solution to this crisis, and the IAEA’s recent decision to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council was a long-overdue step in the right direction.

 

But tough words must be backed by tough action, and we’ve got to keep the pressure on Russia and China to support meaningful measures that will cause the Iranian regime to reevaluate the wisdom of its current course.

 

And, through this legislation before us today, we must push our own Executive Branch to enforce the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, legislation passed by Congress back in 1996 to deter investment in Iran’s oil and gas sector.

 

By requiring the President to impose sanctions on foreign firms that continue to invest in Iran, we hoped to starve the Iranian regime of hard currency necessary to pursue nuclear weapons and support terrorism.

 

In the months after ILSA was signed into law, there were strong indications that it was having the intended deterrent effect.

 

But then, in an effort to avoid offending our allies, the Clinton Administration made a decision not to enforce the law – a shortsighted policy continued by President Bush.

 

H.R. 282 would close a legal loophole that has allowed the State Department to sit on investigations for years without making a determination, one way or the other, if a foreign firm has in fact made an investment in Iran.

 

Mr. Chairman, this legislation won’t make Iran’s nuclear program go away, but it is an important step in the right direction, and – with 360 cosponsors -- sends a clear signal that Congress is extremely concerned about this critical matter.