US Congress sends Obama Iran sanctions bill

WASHINGTON, Oct 15, 2009 (AFP) - The US Congress sent President Barack Obama legislation Thursday that bars companies selling fuel to Iran from winning US government deals, piling pressure on Tehran over its suspect nuclear program.

The measure was included in the Department of Energy's 2010 spending bill, which cleared the Senate by an 80-17 vote, two weeks after the House of Representatives approved the measure.

The measure blocks non-US firms that sell more than one million dollars' worth of refined petroleum products to Iran from Department of Energy contracts to supply the emergency US Strategic Petroleum Reserve stockpile.

It also covers companies that provide Iran with the means to improve their own refining capacity or their ability to import refined petroleum products.

"You can do business in our 13 trillion dollar economy or Iran's 250 billion dollar economy," Republican Senators Jon Kyl and Susan Collins, said after the House's October 1 vote.

Despite being a major oil producer, Iran lacks domestic refining capabilities and relies on imports to meet 40 percent of its gasoline needs.

With US lawmakers eager to force Iran to bow to global demands to freeze its nuclear drive, a key House committee later announced it would take up on October 28 a punishing sanctions bill targeting the same Iranian vulnerability.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee said it would take up the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act, which targets firms that invest 20 million dollars in Iran's energy sector or that provide any help to boost the Islamic republic's domestic production.

The measure would also hit companies that provide Iran with gasoline or help its imports, notably by providing ships or shipping services, as well as insuring or financing such activity.

Iran gets most of its gasoline imports from the Swiss firm Vitol, the Swiss-Dutch firm Trafigura, France's Total, the Swiss firm Glencore and British Petroleum, as well as the Indian firm Reliance.

Lawmakers are weighing several other sanctions measures, and Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, who chairs the banking committee, has said he plans to wrap some of them together in a single piece of legislation.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a law allowing state, local governments and pension funds to end investments in firms that have 20 million dollars or more invested in Iran's petroleum or natural gas operations.

The divestment measure, which passed by an overwhelming vote of 414 to six, does not directly impose sanctions on Iran, but shields states and local governments from lawsuits if they pull their money out of such businesses.

Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican Senator Sam Brownback have crafted similar divestment legislation in the Senate and has 36 co-sponsors.

Both chambers must approve identical legislation before it can go to Obama to sign into law.


by Jeanie Stokes
(c) 2009 AFP