NY-21: Steck Opposes Blockade of Iran

Press Release

NY-21: Steck Opposes Blockade Of Iran

by: robert.harding

H. CON. RES. 362 in the House is legislation sponsored by New York's own Rep. Gary Ackerman that reads "Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the threat posed to international peace, stability in the Middle East, and the vital national security interests of the United States by Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and regional hegemony, and for other purposes."

Phil Steck has come out in opposition to a part of this bill which would impose a blockade on Iran. You can read the text of the legislation here.

From the Steck campaign:

"H CON RES 362 calls for a blockade of Iran, which I am totally opposed to until all diplomatic options are fully exhausted," said Steck. "The lesson to be learned from the Iraq war, which I opposed form the beginning, is that we should not rush to imprudent actions when it comes to world diplomacy."

Steck said that Iran's nuclear program is a real concern and that Iran is a dangerous government, but "a blockade is an act of war, and I do not believe we have reached that point with Iran."

Steck said that he supports other components of the Resolution, including cracking down on terrorist groups, and sanctioning banks and energy companies that do business with terrorists and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

This is the part of the legislation that is pertinent to this discussion:

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

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

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

(A) the Central Bank of Iran and any other Iranian bank engaged in proliferation activities or the support of terrorist groups;

(B) international banks which continue to conduct financial transactions with proscribed Iranian banks;

(C) energy companies that have invested $20,000,000 or more in the Iranian petroleum or natural gas sector in any given year since the enactment of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996; and

(D) all companies which continue to do business with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps;

(3) demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran; and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran's nuclear program; and

(4) urges the President to lead a sustained, serious, and forceful effort at regional diplomacy to support the legitimate governments in the region against Iranian efforts to destabilize them, to reassure our friends and allies that the United States supports them in their resistance to Iranian efforts at hegemony, and to make clear to the Government of Iran that the United States will protect America's vital national security interests in the Middle East.

I read that a couple times and the word "blockade" isn't used. But in reading that, you can see that is the intent of this legislation.

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