[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 89 (Monday, June 2, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S4894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 580--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON PREVENTING 
            IRAN FROM ACQUIRING A NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAPABILITY

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

                              S. Res. 580

       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.

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