[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S1594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL SANCTIONS ON IRAN

  Mr. SMITH. Madam President, I wish to speak on the latest round of 
United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran.
  This past Monday, the Security Council voted 14 to 0 to increase 
sanctions on Iran in response to its continued enrichment of uranium. I 
applaud the United Nations for pursuing the diplomacy necessary to 
avoid hostilities. The vote was another step on the long diplomatic 
path toward increasing stability in the Middle East, but more remains 
to be done. Among other measures, these sanctions are important in 
restricting the travel and freezing the assets of certain Iranian 
officials and banks. The U.N. is now following the American lead in 
taking action against banks like Bank Melli which are deeply involved 
financially with the Iranian Government and its nuclear program.
  The near unanimity shown by members of the Security Council, 
including the five veto-holding countries, was a strong and 
unmistakable signal of the international community's condemnation of 
Iranian policies. That signal would be even stronger if the Security 
Council members--and Russia and China in particular--would take further 
economic measures, including against Iran's energy sector. These 
countries need to realize that a nuclear-armed Iran does not just 
threaten the United States or the West but indeed the entire Middle 
East, the nuclear nonproliferation regime, and potentially the world. 
The very idea of a nuclear Iran is chilling.
  In March of last year, Senator Durbin and I introduced the Iran 
Counter-Proliferation Act, a bill outlining steps the United States and 
its allies should take to prevent Iran from continuing its nuclear 
program. I am pleased that this legislation currently has 69 
cosponsors, and the Bush administration has taken many of the measures 
I suggested. Other nations, particularly our European allies, should 
follow the United States in using additional sanctions to supplement 
the actions of the Security Council. The international community 
particularly needs the cooperation of states which actively do business 
with Iran to draw down that business, in addition to holding key 
Iranian leaders personally responsible.
  Some of the foreign countries which engage Iran economically have 
been cooperative in reducing the extent of that cooperation, like 
Germany, which is steadily decreasing the export credits granted to 
investments in Iran. Others have been far more recalcitrant, especially 
Russia, which continues to provide nuclear and military assistance to 
Tehran. This cooperation, under the circumstances, is unacceptable.
  The diplomacy of the United States and the United Nations must 
continue to intensify until Iran verifiably agrees to forego its 
nuclear ambitions. Until that day, and until Iran's political leaders 
decide they have more to gain from cooperation than from conflict, the 
sanctions enacted today and others like them will continue.

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