The Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib highlights a new stick for the United States to use against Iran, in the form of proposed legislation by Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.):
The goal of the bill that Sens. Bayh, Kyl and Lieberman are about to introduce is to penalize international energy companies that sell refined products to Iran. The bill will authorize economic sanctions against these firms, as well as companies that insure the tankers that deliver refined products and those that finance shipments. The penalty: a ban on doing business with the U.S. government. The hope is to make such business too costly for companies such as India’s Reliance Industries and European oil trading firms to keep it up.
In an interview, Sen. Bayh explains the strategy this way: "We’re trying to strengthen the president’s hand in the efforts to avoid a nuclear-armed Iran. If events keep unfolding in the direction they’re going, in the next several years we will face a choice of either trying to contain a nuclear-armed Iran or using military force to stop it. Neither is a good option." Iran, he adds, has "a real Achilles’ heel" in its reliance on imported gasoline. If an embargo on gasoline imports "was even 50% effective, that could perhaps get them to sit up and take notice."
Read the full story here.
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