[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 16, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H6581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE ON IRAN IS WORKING

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, no one wants war with Iran, but America and 
our allies in Europe have been exerting increased diplomatic and 
economic pressure to move the nation of Iran and its government away 
from developing a nuclear program.
  In May, Congressman Gary Ackerman and I introduced bipartisan 
legislation, H. Con. Res. 362, urging this administration to impose 
expanded economic sanctions on key sectors of the Iranian economy. It 
appears as though it's having its good effect. In what's being reported 
today as what will be the ``closest contact between the two countries 
since the Iranian revolution of 1979,'' this weekend, U.S. Ambassador 
William Burns will meet with top arms negotiators from Tehran. It will 
be more of a listening session and should not be overstated.
  However, I would offer that this glimmer of hope in these 
negotiations is precisely because of the resolve of the United States 
and the European community to economically and diplomatically isolate 
Iran over its nuclear ambitions. But now is not the time for us to 
shrink from renewed diplomatic pressure.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join Congressman Gary Ackerman and me 
and cosponsor H. Con. Res. 362 before this weekend. Let's send a 
deafening message to the negotiators in Iran that the American people 
stand for diplomatic and economic isolation until they abandon their 
nuclear ambition.

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