Congress Aims to Cut Iran Energy Funds

The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation yesterday intended to curb international investment in Iran’s energy sector, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 27).

Lawmakers passed the bill by a vote of 408-6 in response to suspicions that Iran is supporting international terrorism and using its energy program to pursue nuclear weapons.

The legislation would require identification of foreign companies with $20 million or more invested in Iran’s energy sector, enabling federal and state pension funds to withdraw funds from the firms.  The bill would also protect investment managers who pull money from the sector to reinvest in other areas.

“The purpose of [the bill] is to change the behavior of multinational corporations and so change the behavior of Iran’s government,” said Representative Brad Sherman (D-Calif.).

If the bill becomes law, the United States could not lift sanctions it has placed on Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution until a U.S. president certifies that the country is not involved in international terrorism or has halted any nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The U.N. Security Council has twice placed sanctions on Iran in response to Tehran’s refusal to stop uranium enrichment activities (see GSN, July 23).  Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is only for research and power production.

Legislation from Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would encourage investors to pull money from projects helping Iran (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 31).

Meanwhile, Iran this week rebutted Russian claims that it is backlogged on payments to the Russian state contractor building the Bushehr nuclear plant, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

Tehran has met “all its commitments regarding the Bushehr” facility, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters Monday in Tehran.

Russia has referred to missing payments on several occasions to explain repeated delays in the plant’s construction.

“Iran has declared it can examine [the Russian claims] in the framework of negotiations,” Hosseini said, adding that Iranian negotiators are scheduled to travel to Russia for talks (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, July 31).

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