Posted on 05/03/23
| News Source: Arutz-7
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives, led by Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA), Committee on Foreign Affairs chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV), introduced a bill to make the measures established in the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 permanent.
The bill, cosponsored by 16 Republicans and 8 Democrats in the House, is a companion to similar Senate legislation introduced by Senators Tim Scott (R-SC), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).
Steel noted in a press release that the provisions of the act are set to expire in 2026. The Solidify Iran Sanctions Act (SISA) would ensure that the US can “maintain critical deterrents” and “apply pressure to the Iranian regime to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
“Iran has made clear it has no interest in participating in the international community or working towards peace. Iran brutalizes its own people, most recently conducting chemical attacks on thousands of schoolgirls,” Steel said. “The rogue state continues to make threats against democracy and actively sponsors terrorism around the world. Through this bipartisan, bicameral legislation, we can prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons and further jeopardizing global peace.”
McCaul described the Iran Sanctions Act as one of the most crucial tools the US government has to “compel Iran to abandon it’s dangerous and destabilizing behavior.”
The Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 allows the president to impose sanctions on Iran that restrain the regime’s ability to fund operations that endanger US military personnel, Israel, and Arab allies of the US. It places economic pressures on Iran’s energy sector to prevent the regime from acquiring the financial resources needed to support terrorism or further develop their nuclear weapons program.