[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 580 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 580

Expressing the sense of the Senate on preventing Iran from acquiring a 
                      nuclear weapons capability.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 2, 2008

    Mr. Bayh (for himself, Mr. Thune, and Mr. Smith) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate on preventing Iran from acquiring a 
                      nuclear weapons capability.

Whereas Iran is a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear 
        Weapons, done at Washington, London, and Moscow July 1, 1968, and 
        entered into force March 5, 1970 (commonly referred to as the ``Nuclear 
        Non-Proliferation Treaty'') and, by ratifying the Treaty, has foresworn 
        the acquisition of nuclear weapons;
Whereas Iran is legally bound to declare all its nuclear activity to the 
        International Atomic Energy Agency and to place such activity under the 
        constant monitoring of the Agency;
Whereas for nearly 20 years Iran had a covert nuclear program, until the program 
        was revealed by an opposition group in Iran in 2002;
Whereas the International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that the Government 
        of Iran has engaged in such covert nuclear activities as the illicit 
        importation of uranium hexafluoride, the construction of a uranium 
        enrichment facility, experimentation with plutonium, the importation of 
        centrifuge technology and the construction of centrifuges, and the 
        importation of the design to convert highly enriched uranium gas into a 
        metal and to shape it into the core of a nuclear weapon, as well as 
        significant additional covert nuclear activities;
Whereas the Government of Iran continues to expand the number of centrifuges at 
        its enrichment facility and to enrich uranium in defiance of 3 binding 
        United Nations Security Council resolutions demanding that Iran suspend 
        its uranium enrichment activities;
Whereas the Government of Iran has announced its intention to begin the 
        installation of 6,000 advanced centrifuges, which, when operational, 
        will dramatically reduce the time it will take Iran to enrich uranium;
Whereas the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate reports that the Government of 
        Iran was secretly working on the design and manufacture of a nuclear 
        warhead until at least 2003 and that Iran could have enough highly 
        enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon as early as late 2009;
Whereas allowing the Government of Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons capability 
        would pose a grave threat to international peace and security;
Whereas allowing the Government of Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons capability 
        would fundamentally alter and destabilize the strategic balance of power 
        in the Middle East;
Whereas, if it were allowed to obtain a nuclear weapons capability, the 
        Government of Iran could share its nuclear technology, raising the 
        frightening prospect that terrorist groups and rogue regimes might 
        possess nuclear weapons capabilities;
Whereas allowing the Government of Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons capability 
        would severely undermine the global nuclear nonproliferation regime 
        that, for more than 4 decades, has contained the spread of nuclear 
        weapons;
Whereas it is likely that one or more Arab states would respond to Iran 
        obtaining a nuclear weapons capability by following Iran's example, and 
        several Arab states have already announced their intentions to pursue 
        ``peaceful nuclear'' programs;
Whereas the spread of nuclear weapons capabilities throughout the Middle East 
        would make the proliferation of nuclear weapons elsewhere around the 
        globe much more likely;
Whereas allowing the Government of Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons capability 
        would directly threaten Europe and ultimately the United States because 
        Iran already has missiles that can reach parts of Europe and is seeking 
        to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles;
Whereas the Government of Iran has repeatedly called for the elimination of our 
        ally, Israel;
Whereas the Government of Iran has advocated that the United States withdraw its 
        presence from the Middle East;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council has passed 3 binding resolutions 
        under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter that impose sanctions on 
        Iran for its failure to comply with the mandatory demand of the Security 
        Council to suspend all uranium enrichment activity;
Whereas the United States, the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of 
        China, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany have offered to negotiate 
        a significant package of economic, diplomatic, and security incentives 
        if Iran complies with the Security Council's demands to suspend uranium 
        enrichment;
Whereas the Government of Iran has consistently refused such offers;
Whereas, as a result of the failure of the Government of Iran to comply with the 
        Security Council resolutions, the international community began taking 
        steps in 2006 that have begun to have an impact on the economy of Iran, 
        but the rapid development of nuclear weapons capabilities by the 
        Government of Iran is outpacing the slowly increasing economic and 
        diplomatic sanctions on Iran;
Whereas the Government of Iran has used its banking system, including the 
        Central Bank of Iran, to support its proliferation efforts and to assist 
        terrorist groups;
Whereas, as a result of that use of Iran's banking system, the Secretary of the 
        Treasury has designated 4 large Iranian banks as proliferators and 
        supporters of terrorism and restricted the ability of those banks to 
        conduct international financial transactions in United States dollars; 
        and
Whereas Iran must import around 40 percent of its daily requirements for refined 
        petroleum products: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) declares that preventing the Government of Iran from 
        acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, through all appropriate 
        economic, political, and diplomatic means, is a matter of the 
        highest importance to the national security of the United 
        States and must be dealt with urgently;
            (2) urges the President, in the strongest of terms, to 
        immediately use the President's existing authority to impose 
        sanctions on--
                    (A) the Central Bank of Iran and any other Iranian 
                bank engaged in proliferation activities or support of 
                terrorist groups;
                    (B) international banks that continue to conduct 
                financial transactions with sanctioned Iranian banks;
                    (C) energy companies that have invested $20,000,000 
                or more in the petroleum or national gas sector of the 
                economy of Iran in any given year since the date of the 
                enactment of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (Public Law 
                104-172; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note); and
                    (D) companies that continue to do business with the 
                Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran;
            (3) demands that the President lead an international effort 
        to immediately and dramatically increase the pressure on the 
        Government of Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment 
        activities by, among other measures, banning the importation of 
        refined petroleum products to Iran; and
            (4) asserts that nothing in this resolution shall be 
        construed to authorize the use of force against Iran.
                                 <all>