Bill Introduced to “Close Loopholes” in Iranian Sanctions

On Wednesday, Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced S.2058 barring companies “who engage in business or trading activity with Iran from buying oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.” The “Iran Certification and Reporting Bill,” co-sponsored by 16 other senators, was introduced in an attempt to “close loopholes, increase transparency, and improve effectiveness” of current sanctions. In order to take effect, the bill needs to be passed by the full Senate, incorporated with the existing legislation from the House of Representative, and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

The Senate Committee approved the package in response to concerns that companies have legally continued to do business with Iran. The new bill requires the Government Accountability Office to “expose sanction violators” by producing reports “describing the movements of crude oil and refined petroleum products” in Iran every 180 days. Additionally, the bill targets foreign banks that handle transactions for Iranian national oil and tanker companies and requires the administration to push for Iran’s central bank and other financial institutions to be “shut out” of Swift, a Belgian-based telecommunication service used by many banks around the world to transfer funds.

The tightening of sanctions on the Iranian regime are a part of an international effort to put pressure on Iran to halt its alleged nuclear weapons program- “making the case that there is an alternative to military action.” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini responded in a speech quoted in the Tehran Times saying, “Sanctions will not have any impact on our determination to continue our nuclear course … In response to threats of oil embargo and war, we have our own threats to impose at the right time.”