FDD Applauds Congressional Action Targeting Iran’s Need to Import Gasoline

Washington, D.C. (October 1, 2009) – The Foundation for Defense of Democracies applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for approving a measure to bar companies that sell or ship gasoline to Iran from receiving funds to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The measure was included as part of the conference report for the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2010.

The measure was originally authored by Senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Susan Collins (R-ME). The bill will be sent to the Senate for its approval and then sent to the President.

“As the United States opens negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, this action sends a strong signal to companies that trade with Iran that the U.S. government is not open for business,” said FDD Executive Director Mark Dubowitz. “There is overwhelming bipartisan agreement in Congress to take strong steps to limit gasoline exports to Iran. This will put additional pressure on Iran’s gasoline partners. Passage of this bill will send the message that business as usual should not be conducted with an Iranian regime that is illegally pursuing nuclear weapons, sponsoring terrorism, threatening its neighbors, facilitating the killing of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, and oppressing its own population.”

Prominent lawmakers from both political parties have called for quick consideration of bipartisan legislation to advance gasoline sanctions. In an op-ed in the Washington Post on September 27, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), the lead Democratic sponsor of the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanction Act, wrote:

[W]e should be ready immediately to impose what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called “crippling sanctions.” Iran’s economy is in terrible shape, and the regime no longer can take for granted the support of its citizens. …

The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act, which I, along with Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced, provides such authority to act. The bill, which has more than 300 co-sponsors (its companion in the Senate has 75 co-sponsors), provides President Obama with a mandate to increase the level of financial penalties against Iran and would prevent companies that facilitate the provision of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to Iran from doing business in the United States.

In a joint statement, the three lead Senate sponsors of the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act, Senators Bayh (D-IN), Lieberman (I-CT), and Kyl (R-AZ), said:

In the absence of immediate compliance by Iran with the IAEA and multiple UN Security Council resolutions, we must act swiftly and decisively to impose crippling new sanctions against Iran. In the Senate, an unprecedented bipartisan majority now supports the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act — S. 908 — which has attracted 76 cosponsors, including both some of the most conservative and most liberal members of this chamber. It is now urgent that our coalition move forward on this bill.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has researched the energy companies that supply Iran with gasoline and identified significant points of leverage that can be used to convince them to end their trade.

For more information on FDD’s Iran Energy Project, the companies supplying Iran, and ways to significantly reduce Iran’s gasoline imports, please visit IranEnergyProject.org or contact Judy Mayka at
[email protected]
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (202) 207-3698.

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The Foundation for Defense of Democracies is a non-profit, non-partisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that drive terrorism. Founded shortly after the attacks of 9/11, FDD combines policy research, democracy and counterterrorism education, strategic communications, and investigative journalism in support of its mission. For more information, please visit www.defenddemocracy.org.