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The Senate Banking Committee unanimously approved legislation on Thursday that would allow the White House to impose stronger sanctions on Iran.

The move comes as Iran is apparently turning down a deal to ship out its uranium stockpile amid fears it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon.

The Senate bill, passed a day after the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a similar measure, would authorize sanctions against companies that provide the country with refined petroleum products and ban most trade between the two countries, exempting food and medicine.

The measure would also bring more types of companies under sanctions that currently apply to businesses with heavy investments in Iran’s oil and gas sector and require the White House to freeze assets of Iranians known to be active in terrorism.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat and chair of the Banking Committee, said in a statement that “we must send a clear signal to Iran’s leaders that, if they continue to defy the will of the international community, our nation is prepared to confront them on that.”