Last week the Senate passed legislation to impose economic sanctions
against Iran. The House version of the bill sponsored by Reps. Barney
Frank (D-MA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) passed in December. There is a
separate Petroleum Sanctions act sponsored by Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL)
and Howard Berman (D-CA) that passed the House in October. The Senate
bill was sponsored by Democrat Chris Dodd and Republican Richard Shelby.
The sanctions would target oil which Iran’s economy is dependent on. The
bill would also ban trade with companies that do business with Iran.
The President has not stated whether he will sign the bill into law but
did warn Iran that it would suffer “growing consequences” if they
ignored international obligations. President Obama introduced similar
legislation when he was Senator.
