<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile — Obama seen opposing bi-partisan legislation on Iran sanctions

Obama seen opposing bi-partisan legislation on Iran sanctions

Wednesday, April 29, 2009   E-Mail this story   Free Headline Alerts

WASHINGTON — Congress plans to examine a proposal to impose sanctions on companies that assist Iran.

A group of senators has introduced legislation that would allow President Barack Obama to impose sanctions on foreign fuel suppliers to Iran. The initiative, which has garnered the support of at least one-quarter of the Senate, was organized by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut.

"The logic behind our approach is simple," Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said. "Although blessed with immense oil wealth, Iran — due to the economic mismanagement of its leaders — lacks the capacity to meet its domestic demand for gasoline and other refined petroleum products. As a result, it must rely heavily on imports for as much as 40 percent of its gasoline needs."

The legislation would grant presidential powers to impose sanctions on gasoline and refined petroleum imported to Iran. Lieberman said the bill was supported by both liberal and conservative members of the Senate. The administration was expected to oppose the legislation, titled the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act.

Obama has launched a dialogue meant to reconcile with the Islamic regime in Teheran. "We must not allow anyone to mistake our willingness to engage with the Iranians as a sign of weakness, least of all, the Iranians themselves," Lieberman told the American Enterprise Institute on April 27.

"Yet frankly, that is precisely the conclusion that some in Iran and elsewhere in the region are drawing." Lieberman said the Iranian threat could result in an informal Arab-Israeli alliance. He said the challenge was whether the United States could "seize this moment to help usher into place a new strategic architecture for the Middle East."

The cosponsors of the legislation, introduced on April 28, included Senators Evan Bayh, Barbara Boxer, Susan Collins, Russell Feingold, Jon Kyl, Barbara Mikulski, James Risch, Charles Schumer and John Thune.

In all, the legislation has garnered 25 co-sponsors, both Democrats and Republicans. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House by Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican.

"Bottom line: It allows us to put our finger right on the pressure point where Iran is the weakest, and that is gasoline," Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said.

The latest bill would also amend the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act, which called for a boycott of companies that invest $20 million or more in Iran's energy sector. The new legislation enables the president to sanction foreign companies involved in the sale of fuel, fuel delivery insurance and maintenance of Iranian refineries.

"We know who these companies [that deal with Iran] are: [Royal Dutch] Shell, [Switzerland's] Vitol, BP and [India's] Reliance," Kyl said. "We need to give them a choice: You can do business with Iran's $250 billion economy or our $13 trillion economy, but not both."

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