Counterterrorism Blog

The revelation that Iran is training thousands of Shia terrorists inside Iran for operations inside Iraq is likely to markedly increase support on Capitol Hill for tougher U.S. sanctions against Western businesses conducting business with the regime. The specter of hordes of Iranian-trained and armed terrorists intensively targeting our troops in Iraq, especially during the height of the election campaign, haunts Members of Congress who have patiently hoped that financial sanctions would change Iranian behavior, with no apparent success to date. For instance, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), who chairs a key U.S. House terrorism subcommittee, is challenging the Administration, both parties, and the business community to tighten the screws further on Iran's international business network. In an interview posted last night by CQ Homeland Security for subscribers, he discussed a number of options:

"(t)he Iran Sanctions Act requires — it doesn’t recommend, not a non-binding resolution, this is an act — that we identify those companies that are investing over $20 million in the Iran oil sector, and this administration refuses to do that. Now, once they identify, well, first they’ve named and shamed a company, and they don’t believe in annoying international oil companies, and second, they would then have to impose sanctions on a company or do a waiver, and the press might notice that...

So for example, the bill to just allow investors to divest from companies doing business — there’s one on Sudan, a separate bill that I was more involved in, I was involved with both on Iran — just to allow trustees, pension trustees, states and cities, their own money without facing frivolous lawsuits...

We’ve got to hit hard at the World Bank and say, look, we can’t sit by while you lend money to Iran. We can change our federal, state procurement and federal corporate assistance programs. We can facilitate divestiture, both in terms of our securities laws and our tax laws. So we have a whole list of ways outside of the U.N. to put economic pressure on Iran and to change the behavior of multi-national organizations and international corporations."

Our Contributing Experts have discussed a number of these options here, including one which would restrict or even shut down all airflights into or out of Iran. During our April 15 panel on Iran, Matthew Levitt urged listeners to remember that financial sanctions are only one available tool and would not be effective without other measures. Congress is increasingly ready to aim its bipartisan wrath at those businesses assisting Iranian's economy and to pass more stringent measures, whether the Administration agrees or not.