[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 156 (Monday, October 26, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H11768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IRAN SANCTIONS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, the House Committee on 
Foreign Affairs will hold a long-overdue markup of the Iran Refined 
Petroleum Sanctions Act. Some of our colleagues are focusing 
exclusively on Iran's nuclear ambition, as it was the nuclear program 
in itself that was the catalyst for the concern.
  But if Iran were comprised of a responsible, democratic government, 
would we be as apprehensive about their nuclear activities? Of course 
not. But we are talking about an Iranian regime which just this year 
conducted two missile tests and continues to work on the range of its 
missiles and on enabling them to carry a nuclear payload. We are 
talking about a regime whose leaders throughout the years have made it 
abundantly clear that they will stop at nothing to destroy the Jewish 
State of Israel. We are talking about an Iran which for nearly three 
decades has been designated by our U.S. Department of State as the 
world's leading state sponsor of global terrorism. The clerical regime 
is fomenting bloodshed and promoting chaos in the West Bank and Gaza 
and Lebanon and the Persian Gulf, as well as in Iraq, where it is 
actively assisting in the murder of our U.S. soldiers.
  On the battlefields of Afghanistan, Iran is also playing a deadly 
subversive role. As early as 2002, allegations emerged that Iran was 
supporting insurgent groups in Afghanistan, including its former 
archenemy, the Taliban. However, the first significant report of 
Iranian weapons in Afghanistan came in April of 2007. Then-chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, announced: ``We have 
intercepted weapons in Afghanistan headed for the Taliban that were 
made in Iran.''
  Since 2007, several large shipments have been seized near the Iranian 
border. U.S. officials say that Iranian-made weapons have been found in 
Afghanistan and used by Taliban-led insurgents. These weapons have 
included Tehran's signature roadside bomb, the explosively formed 
penetrator, EFP, AK-47s, as well as C-4 plastic explosives and mortars.
  On August 29 of this year, just a few days before General McChrystal 
submitted his request to this administration, Afghan and NATO forces 
uncovered a weapons collection in Herat with EFPs, Iranian-made rockets 
and dozens of blocks of Iranian C-4 plastic explosives.
  In the August 2009 declassified, leaked version of his assessment, 
General Stanley McChrystal stated that: ``Iran plays an ambiguous role 
in Afghanistan, providing developmental assistance and political 
support to the Afghan government while the Iranian Qods force is 
reportedly training fighters for certain Taliban groups and providing 
other forms of military assistance to insurgents.''
  We cannot allow Iran to undermine U.S. efforts and kill our soldiers 
in Afghanistan. We cannot allow Iran to return Afghanistan to the 
status of a failed state and pave the way for attacks against the West 
using Afghanistan as its launching pad. We cannot allow Iran to develop 
nuclear weapons capabilities which threaten the United States and our 
allies.
  If we are to be vigilant in protecting the lives of our men and 
women--military and civilian--in Afghanistan, we must increase the 
pressure on the Iranian regime and impose immediate sanctions on Iran. 
This should be our first option.
  We don't have the luxury of time, to wait for an eventual Iranian 
response to U.S. diplomatic overtures. We cannot wait for the U.N. 
Security Council to come around. We cannot wait for our European and 
other allies to decide to do the right thing. The United States must 
lead by example. It is time to cut off the Iranian regimes's economic 
lifeline. As such, we should not stop at this week's Foreign Affairs 
Committee markup.
  I urge the majority to bring the strongest possible form of the Iran 
Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act to the floor next week for a vote, 
followed by quick Senate action so that it gets to the President's desk 
before the end of the year. We must do this now.

                          ____________________