[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 65 (Thursday, April 30, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1033-E1034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INTRODUCTION ON IRAN REFINED PETROLEUM SANCTIONS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 30, 2009

  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, our nation has a vital national security 
interest in ensuring that Iran does not possess nuclear arms or achieve 
the means to produce them on short notice. My bill, the Iran Refined 
Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), is designed to help prevent Iran from 
developing a nuclear weapons capability.
  This legislation requires that any foreign entity that sells refined 
petroleum to Iran--or otherwise enhances Iran's ability to import 
refined petroleum through, for example, financing, brokering, 
underwriting, or providing ships for such activity--will be effectively 
barred from doing business in the United States. The same would be true 
for any entity that provides goods or services that enhance Iran's 
ability to maintain or expand its domestic production of refined 
petroleum.
  Because of its limited refining capacity, Iran is forced to import 
roughly one-quarter of the gasoline and other refined petroleum 
products it consumes from other countries. Without this outside help, 
much of the Iranian economy would grind to a halt. It seems hard to 
believe that one of the world's leading oil exporters could find itself 
in this position, but it is reality--one that can only be attributed to 
shockingly poor planning and administration by the Iranian regime.
  I and the other co-sponsors of this bill therefore believe that this 
measure could have a powerfully negative impact on the Iranian economy, 
rendering it more difficult for the Iranian government to continue to 
fund a nuclear program that the international community has repeatedly 
called upon it to suspend. Our goal, of course, is not to punish the 
Iranian people, but to maximize the chances that we can persuade the 
Iranian government to accede to the will of the international 
community.
  Let me be clear: I fully support the Administration's strategy of 
direct diplomatic engagement with Iran, and I have no intention of 
moving this bill though the legislative process in the near future. In 
fact, I hope that Congress will never need to take any action on this 
legislation, for that would mean that Iran at last has complied with 
the repeatedly-expressed demand of the international community, as 
embodied in five separate U.N. Security Council resolutions, to 
verifiably suspend its uranium enrichment program and to end its 
pursuit of nuclear weapons once and for all.
  The larger purpose of my bill is to demonstrate to one and all--but 
particularly to the Iranian regime--the importance that the U.S. 
Congress places on the Iranian nuclear issue.

[[Page E1034]]

I share President Obama's conviction that it is unacceptable for Iran 
to possess nuclear weapons and his determination to seek a diplomatic 
solution to this issue. However, should engagement with Iran not yield 
the desired results in a reasonable period of time, we will have no 
choice but to press forward with additional sanctions--such as those 
contained in IRPSA--that could truly cripple the Iranian economy. In 
that respect, I am pleased that Secretary of State Clinton has said 
that she is already intensively engaged with our allies and other key 
states in the international community for the purpose of, in her words, 
``laying the groundwork for the kind of very tough . . . sanctions that 
might be necessary in the event that our offers are either rejected or 
the process is inconclusive or unsuccessful.''
  This legislation is offered in that spirit.

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