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发帖数: 29846 | 1 94：0，参议院一致投票反对奥巴马的否决，要求加强对伊朗流氓政权的经济制裁
Senate Votes 94-0 to Override Obama on Iran Sanctions
The Senate approved new economic sanctions on Iran on Friday, overriding
objections from the White House that the legislation could undercut existing
efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The Senate voted 94-0 to impose additional U.S. financial penalties on
foreign businesses and banks involved in Iran’s energy, ports, shipping and
shipbuilding sectors, and impose sanctions on metals trade with Iran.
Sens. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Mark Kirk, an Illinois
Republican, the architects of a year-old law that has curtailed Iran’s oil
exports and revenues, said the new measure would go further toward squeezing
Iran’s economy and increase the pressure on the Islamic Republic to
negotiate on its disputed nuclear program.
White House officials told Senate Democratic leaders in a late-night email
on Nov. 29 that the administration didn’t think more sanctions are needed
yet and asked them to hold off until next year. The new provisions were
confusing and inconsistent in applying sanctions, according to the email,
and the ambiguities “would hamper implementation” of sanctions.
“We believe additional authorities now threaten to undercut” existing
sanctions, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said yesterday
in a statement. “We also have concerns with some of the formulations as
currently drafted in the text and want to work through them with our
congressional partners to make the law more effective and consistent with
the current sanctions law to ensure we don’t undercut our success to date.”
The new package is an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill
that awaits a vote that may come as soon as Dec 3. The measure would still
have to be reconciled with a House of Representatives’ version, and already
faces a potential veto by Obama over provisions unrelated to Iran sanctions.
While almost all trade with Iran by any U.S. business or individual has long
been banned, the amendment approved yesterday would impose penalties on
other nations’ trade with the nation, a step closer to a trade embargo on
Iran.
The existing sanctions have weakened Iran’s currency, curtailed its oil
exports and forced Iran back to nuclear talks. Still, Iran hasn’t slowed
its enrichment efforts, making new measures essential, Menendez said in an
email.
The U.S., European Union and Israel say Iran is secretly pursuing a nuclear
weapons capability. Iran says its nuclear program is strictly for civilian
energy and medical research.
USA*Engage, a coalition of U.S. business, agriculture and trade associations
, expressed disappointment at the proposed additional sanctions, calling
them “at odds with the U.S. government’s official position of pursuing a
dual track of multilateral sanctions and diplomatic engagement.”
The Senate-approved amendment would continue to allow purchases of Iranian
crude as long as the buyer nation is able to show it’s significantly
reducing its oil imports from Iran.
Publicly available oil-trading figures indicate that seven nations,
including India, Turkey and South Korea, have continued to significantly
reduce their Iranian oil imports over the last six months, two U.S.
officials said yesterday. The nations appear to be on track to earn a second
round of exceptions from sanctions next week, the officials said, speaking
on condition of anonymity because no final decision has been made by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The new Menendez-Kirk amendment would allow purchases of Iranian natural gas
if payments are made in local currency into an account that Iran could use
only for approved trade. That provision, according to advisers who helped
craft the legislation, is especially important for Turkey, a U.S. ally and
NATO member that is a major buyer of Iranian natural gas.
While the U.S. and EU say the current sanctions forced Iran back to the
negotiating table this year, talks stalled and no agreement has been reached
despite the steady tightening of economic penalties. Iran’s oil exports
were down 1 million barrels a day last month, or 40 percent, compared with
October 2011, U.S. Energy Department figures show.
Oil capped its first monthly increase since August on signals that economic
expansion in the U.S. is accelerating. Crude oil for January delivery
advanced 84 cents to $88.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange
yesterday, the highest settlement since Nov. 19. Futures increased 0.7
percent this week and gained 3.1 percent this month. Prices are down 10
percent this year.
The new sanctions would include energy, ports, shipping and shipbuilding as
parts of Iran’s economy that support its nuclear program and weapons
proliferation. The legislation also would make it illegal to do business or
provide insurance or reinsurance to any Iranian business in those areas or
to any Iranian individual sanctioned by the U.S. government.
The White House said in its email to Senate Democrats that reporting
requirements about vessels docking at Iranian ports and landings of Iranian
planes would “impose serious time burdens” on the U.S. intelligence
community and sanctions officers.
The expanded sanctions would require the president to issue a special
exemption from sanctions, in addition to a national interest waiver, if an
oil-importing country is facing “exceptional circumstances” that make it
impossible to reduce Iranian oil imports further.
The Senate measure is also aimed at blocking trade in commodities used in
Iran’s shipbuilding and nuclear sectors, such as graphite, aluminum, steel,
metallurgical coal and software for integrating industrial processes.
The measure also seeks to stop Iran from circumventing sanctions by
receiving payment in precious metals such as gold, or using oil payments in
local currencies to buy gold. Obama issued an executive order several months
ago to impose sanctions on any precious metal sales to Iran’s government. |
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