House Passes Klein/Mack Resolution on Iran

Press Release

House Passes Klein/Mack Resolution on Iran

WASHINGTON - U.S. Reps. Ron Klein (FL-22) and Connie Mack (FL-14) Monday praised the passage of H. Res. 435, a resolution they introduced expressing the House of Representatives' growing concerns over the national security implications regarding Iran's growing relationships in Latin America.

The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has visited Latin America three times in the past year, and has signed agreements with several countries in the region worth billions of dollars. Additionally, Iran has opened new embassies and has initiated direct flights from Caracas to Tehran.

"This week's events at INTERPOL remind us of Iran's dark and ominous history in Latin America, and we must never forget that, especially as Iran begins to make friends with several countries in the region," said Klein. "Iran wants to undermine our efforts in our own neighborhood, and their actions are too dangerous to go unnoticed."

Mack said, "Iran's ability to gain a strategic foothold in our hemisphere is a direct threat to the freedom, prosperity and security of the Latin American people and the United States. Iran's intention is clear -- they are seeking to do in Venezuela what the former Soviet Union did in Cuba: establish a base of operations in the Western Hemisphere that will destabalize the balance of power. Ahmadinejad's words and actions, and those of his close friend Hugo Chavez, undermine the foundations of freedom and democracy in Latin America. Congress and the Administration can and must do more to address the very real threat that Iran poses in our hemisphere and to foster hope and opportunity for all of Latin America."

The passage of the Klein-Mack Resolution coincides with INTERPOL's General Assembly meeting this week. INTERPOL will consider whether to uphold red notice arrest warrants for five Iranians and one Lebanese. The pending case is regarding the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994, a case that remains unresolved. If INTERPOL were to uphold the red notice warrants, the six men would be put on INTERPOL's most wanted list. The government of Iran has requested to delay the proceedings.

Both members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Klein and Mack are also cosponsors of H.R. 1400, the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, which passed the House in late September and currently awaits action in the Senate. This legislation would close loopholes in existing laws that prohibit U.S. companies and their foreign subsidiaries from investing in Iran's energy sector. It would also increase funding for U.S. agencies working to isolate Iran from the international banking system, which would make it more difficult for Iran to do business with global partners.

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