National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, one of the greatest--if not the greatest threats to the security of our Nation and our ally Israel--is the concerted effort by the Government of Iran to acquire the technology and materials to create a nuclear weapon that will alter the balance of power in the Middle East, and which would most certainly lead to hostilities. To forestall or ideally prevent this scenario, we must use ALL of the tools of peaceful diplomacy available to us.

Simply put, we must do everything in our power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. I am pleased to offer an amendment that will limit Iran's ability to finance its nuclear ambitions by sanctioning the Central Bank of Iran, which is complicit in Iran's efforts.

This amendment will require the President to make a determination about whether the Central Bank of Iran's conduct threatens the national security of the United States or its allies based on its facilitation of the activities of the Government of Iran that threaten global or regional peace and security, its evasion of multilateral sanctions directed against the Government of Iran; its engagement in deceptive financial practices and illicit transactions, and most importantly its provision of financial services in support of Iran's effort to acquire the knowledge, materials, and facilities to enrich uranium and to ultimately develop weapons of mass destruction.

Last week we learned just how far down the nuclear road Iran has come. The International Atomic Energy Agency's report indicates that Iran continues to enrich uranium and is seeking to develop as many as 10 new enrichment facilities; has conducted high explosives testing and detonator development to set off a nuclear charge, as well as computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead; and has engaged in preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test. We also learned that an August IAEA inspection revealed that 43.5 pounds of a component--used to arm nuclear warheads--was unaccounted for in Iran and that Iran is working on an indigenous design for a nuclear payload small enough to fit on Iran's long-range Shahab-3 missile, a missile capable to reaching Israel.

These revelations--combined with Iran's provocative effort in October to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States--demonstrate that Iran's aggression has taken a violent turn and that we can expect that if it gets a nuclear weapon that it will use that weapon.

This amendment will impose sanctions on any foreign financial institutions that engage in significant transactions with the Central Bank of Iran, with the exception of transactions in food, medicine, and medical devices. It sends the message that you have a choice--to do business with the United States or to do business with Iran.

Iran has a history of exporting terrorism--against coalition forces in Iraq, in Argentina, Lebanon, and even in Washington; and while Iran's drive to advance its nuclear weapons program has been slowed by U.S. and international sanctions, it remains undeterred. Today, we take the next step to isolate Iran politically and financially.

I also look forward to continuing to work with the administration and with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to achieve our shared goals and to make this a bipartisan initiative.

Our efforts to date have been transformative, but Iran has adapted to the sanctions, unanticipated loopholes have allowed the regime to adjust and circumvent the sanctions and drive forward its effort to achieve a robust nuclear program.

We have to be just as prepared to adjust and adapt by closing each loophole that arises. By identifying the Central Bank of Iran as the Iranian regime's partner and financier of its terrorist agenda we can begin to starve the regime of the money it needs to achieve its nuclear goals.

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