Senate Introduces New Campion Sanctions Resolution

On June 2, 2008, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) introduced S.Res.580 along with Sentors John Thune (R-SD), and Gordon Smith (R-OR). The bill text is not yet available on Thomas, but the resolution appears to be the Senate version of H.Con.Res. 362 introduced by Gary Ackerman and Mike Pence into the House of Representatives on May 22. The introduction of both bills calling for more U.S. unilateral sanctions not surprisingly comes as AIPAC is holding its annual policy conference in Washington, D.C.

S.Res.580 resolves that the Senate—

(1) declares that preventing the Government of Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, through all appropriate economic, political, and diplomatic means, is a matter of the highest importance to the national security of the United States and must be dealt with urgently;

(2) urges the President, in the strongest of terms, to immediately use the President's existing authority to impose sanctions on--

(A) the Central Bank of Iran and any other Iranian bank engaged in proliferation activities or support of terrorist groups;
(B) international banks that continue to conduct financial transactions with sanctioned Iranian banks;
(C) energy companies that have invested $20,000,000 or more in the petroleum or national gas sector of the economy of Iran in any given year since the date of the enactment of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-172; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note); and
(D) companies that continue to do business with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran;

(3) demands that the President lead an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the pressure on the Government of Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, among other measures, banning the importation of refined petroleum products to Iran; and

(4) asserts that nothing in this resolution shall be construed to authorize the use of force against Iran.