Dodd Statement on Iran Sanctions
Statement
Today Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) expressed the need to provide the Obama Administration with strong tools to deal with the regime in Iran.
"The actions of this Iranian regime pose a threat to peace and security in the Middle East, and threaten our close ally Israel. They are an affront to democratic values and human rights. And they must stop," Dodd said.
"The new Obama Administration has undertaken an aggressive dual-track approachoffering high-level engagement with Tehran and sustained pressure through economic sanctions -- while warning that Iran, as Secretary Gates said this week, won't be allowed to run out the clock.'"
"Now it is our job to arm our President with a comprehensive set of tough sanctions designed to ratchet up pressure on the Iranian regime. I am working closely with the Administration as it develops its Iran policy, and I plan to hold a hearing with State, Treasury, and Commerce officials this fall before marking up additional legislation," Dodd concluded.
Today the Banking Committee held a hearing "Minimizing Potential Threats from Iran: Assessing Economic Sanctions and Other US Policy Options."
Senator Joe Lieberman testified at the hearing, followed by a panel that included Ambassador Nicholas Burns of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Dr. Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Dr. Suzanne Maloney of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.
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