Hearing Of The Senate Committee On Banking, Housing, And Urban Affairs - Executive Session To Mark-up An Original Bill Entitled: "Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability And Divestment Act Of 2009" And Vote On

Statement

Chairman Dodd and Ranking Member Shelby, thank you for moving
forward with this important legislation. We are meeting at a critical time
-- for both the Administration's efforts at engagement with Iran, and this
Committee's efforts to enhance the President's leverage as he leads
international efforts to pressure the Iranian regime.
Although Iran has agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency
inspectors to access the recently-disclosed nuclear enrichment plant near
Qum (KOOM), plans to export 2,600 pounds of uranium for benign
processing have yet to be officially agreed to by Tehran.
Our central goal today is unchanged: we must prevent Iran from
obtaining nuclear weapons. This issue is fundamentally important to the
security of the United States. A nuclear-armed Iran would profoundly
destabilize the region. It would present a threat to Europe, and also our
allies in the Middle East, like Egypt and Jordan.
And, of course, Iran's threats against our partner Israel have been
unacceptable. Israel's security as a Jewish democracy and ally is central
to our interests, and consonant with our highest ideals. To safeguard
those interests, we need to preserve our flexibility to use all tools of
national power and international coordination to prevent Iran from
acquiring nuclear weapons.
I have cosponsored the Bayh/Lieberman/Kyl Iran Refined Petroleum
Sanctions Act, and I thank the senators for their fine work on this
legislation, much of which has been included in today's bill. These
sanctions could influence Iran's insular political decision-making, and
help force the regime to reevaluate its cost-benefit analysis.
We need to be tough about this, but we also need to be smart. That
means not taking the military option off the table. But it also means
aggressively pursuing the tools of diplomacy -- building coalitions of
moderate Muslim states, European states, the Russians and the Chinese
-- to show the Iranians that not only are there consequences to
inflammatory behavior, but benefits to conciliatory behavior as well.
The approach of non-engagement over the last eight years simply didn't
work. The way to address ineffective diplomatic results is not to jettison
diplomacy. I fully support President Obama's efforts to engage Iran
directly. We must give this new strategy time to work. A serious effort
to engage Iran will help justify to the international community the need
for further sanctions. Iran's fragile economy is susceptible to economic
pressure. We should view that as an opportunity. Iran needs our capital
and our purchasing power, whatever the ruling clergy might think of our
system of governance and our culture. But if diplomacy fails, we must
be prepared to act quickly. Today's markup is a responsible step
forward in a comprehensive approach towards Iran.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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