Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. LAWLER. Mr. Speaker, for decades, Presidents and Members of Congress of both parties have talked about peace in the Middle East. Stability in the Middle East and freedoms for all who live there is something that all of us should be able to agree on, and almost everyone also agrees that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and that Iran is the greatest state sponsor of terrorism.

Unfortunately, 53 of my colleagues from across the aisle last week chose not to support that belief by voting against a resolution that declared Iran the greatest state sponsor of terrorism.

For the first year of this term, President Trump has prioritized putting in place maximum pressure on the Iranian regime and prioritizing negotiations to stop their uranium enrichment, to stop their nuclear ambitions, to stop their ballistic missiles program, and to stop their financing of terrorism. Unfortunately, the regime refused to negotiate in good faith.

Two weeks ago, President Trump executed Operation Epic Fury to take their ballistic missiles program off the table for them. This offensive also destroyed their air defense system and their naval capabilities.

Look where our partners and allies in the region are. They are opposed to a nuclear Iran. They are opposed to an Iranian regime that possesses dangerous intercontinental ballistic missiles, and they support the United States maximum pressure campaign.

That is because they know this military engagement did not happen in silo. This was not a war of choice. The fact is Iran has been at war with the United States for 47 years. The regime has chanted ``death to America'' for 47 years. The regime is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, thousands of Israelis, and thousands of Muslims.

Mr. Speaker, you see them lashing out indiscriminately and striking civilian targets in Arab states.

Why?

It is because they are the face of evil, and they are the greatest force for terrorism around the globe.

This comes after the regime funded Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. It comes after they funded constant Houthi attacks and funded Hezbollah.

Where did they get this financing from?

They get it from the illicit oil trade, the oil trade in which China is the biggest purchaser of Iranian petroleum.

I was proud last Congress working alongside then-Senator and now- Secretary of State Marco Rubio in passing the SHIP Act so that we could actually enforce sanctions against the Iranian regime and their illicit oil trade. It comes on the heels of a regime in Iran that has sought to destroy the United States and Israel and our partners.

Maximum pressure means strength in the face of these egregious and tragic offenses. My bill, the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act, builds on the Trump administration's existing sanctions regime to give them more tools to cripple the illicit oil trade and to cripple this unholy alliance between China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, and other bad actors.

Now, it does so by authorizing the administration to place secondary sanctions on enablers of Iran's illicit oil trade that have financed their proxies, that have financed their missiles program, and that have financed their nuclear ambitions and their uranium enrichment. This includes essentially any company that has engaged in a transaction involving the processing, refining, export, or transfer of Iranian oil. This includes foreign banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, flagging registries, and more.

If someone is knowingly providing financial support to the Iranian regime's largest influx of cash, we should know about it, and we should stop it. That is what this bill does.

This bill expands the authorities to cripple this oil network, to stop the financing of ballistic missiles, to stop the financing of uranium enrichment, to stop the financing of Iran's nuclear ambitions, and to stop their financing of terrorism. This is a multifaceted approach.

We saw under the Biden administration an administration that not only did not enforce sanctions against Iran, but it also allowed the illicit oil trade to explode to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Those funds are what funded October 7. That is what funded the death and destruction that we have seen across the Middle East.

We saw under the Obama Administration an attempt to appease the Iranian regime, to drop off pallets of cash in the hopes that somehow that would stop them from pursuing nuclear weapons, that that would somehow stop them from possessing enriched uranium, and that that would somehow stop them from financing terrorism.

Peace through strength means understanding that sometimes you must take action and that sometimes you must use military force. After the regime refused to negotiate in good faith and was mass-producing ballistic missiles at such a rate that it would be almost impossible in the future to stop their nuclear ambitions, President Trump took action.

This was not an illegal war. This was not a war of choice. Republicans and Democrats have said ad nauseam that Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon. Sadly, it seems some of my colleagues would be okay if they did so, as long as Donald Trump wasn't President. Some of my colleagues hate Donald Trump so much that they care more about the fact that he is President than they do about the fact that he is stopping the Iranian regime's 47-year reign of terror.

I have listened to some of my colleagues over the last 2 weeks in amazement. They have completely reversed their positions on so many issues, including 53 who just last Congress voted to say that Iran is the greatest state sponsor of terrorism but now no longer believe that. You have candidates running for Congress who are saying that the United States is the terrorist regime. It is insanity.

The fact is that we have a responsibility to stop this regime cold, to cut the head off of the snake. That is precisely what we are doing through military action and through a sanctions regime that has crippled Iran's capabilities.

There is more work to be done, and that is why we are passing this legislation. I thank Chairman Mast and Ranking Member Meeks for supporting this through committee. I thank President Trump and the administration for supporting this bill today.

Mr. Speaker, it is a testament that, even if there are disagreements, we can find bipartisan support. We can find a path forward. We should be giving this administration and future administrations every tool necessary to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.

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