Sherman: Time for Tough Iran Sanctions
Sherman: Time for Tough Iran Sanctions
Terrorist-Linked Regime's Nuclear Program a Serious Threat
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Brad Sherman on Saturday welcomed a United Nations nuclear watchdog agency vote to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over Tehran's nuclear program.
Sherman, however, predicted that China would use its permanent seat on the council to stymie any meaningful action against Iran. Beijing has extensive economic and diplomatic ties with Tehran.
"It is clear that China will defend Iran with its veto, so Iran knows it will not face any Security Council sanctions," said Sherman, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee. "We need to subtly inform China that it cannot count on open access to the U.S. markets while it protects Iran's nuclear program."
Sherman added, "It is time to take the Iranian nuclear threat seriously and for the Bush administration to show some backbone in dealing with Tehran. The president's efforts in this area have been incredibly lame. This president has done nothing in five years to stop or even slow down Iran's march toward nuclear weapons."
A leading critic of the Bush administration's refusal to enforce the Iran Libya Sanctions Act, Sherman renewed his call for a total embargo on Iranian goods sold to the United States. (Americans spend some $150 million a year on Iranian products).
While the Bush administration has been preoccupied in Iraq, Sherman said, Iran has long posed a greater threat to stability in the Middle East than Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He also warned of potential calamities far worse than the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks if Iran develops nuclear weapons and equips terrorists with easily concealable bombs.
"We need to act now, before Iran develops a nuclear bomb, before it arms terrorists with a weapon that could wreak unheard of havoc," said Sherman, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation.
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