Senate Resolves 99-0 to Back Israel Against Iran Attack

The Democratic-led Senate voted 99-0 — with one senator not present — on Wednesday night on a resolution that the United States should support Israel if it is forced to defend itself against an Iranian nuclear threat. The measure also urged President Barack Obama to strengthen enforcement of existing sanctions on Iran.

Earlier Wednesday, a House of Representatives committee approved legislation seeking to impose tighter sanctions on Iran, the latest congressional effort to slow development of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The “Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013” passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a unanimous voice vote and is expected to easily pass the full 435-member chamber, where it already has about 340 co-sponsors.

A vote by the Republican-controlled House is likely in the coming weeks.

The measure seeks to cut Iran’s oil exports to less than 500,000 barrels a day, limit Tehran’s access to foreign currency and expand the list of blacklisted sectors of Iran’s economy. Sponsors called it the strongest sanctions package ever against Iran’s nuclear program.

A bipartisan group of senators introduced separate legislation earlier this month that would block Iran’s access to billions of dollars’ worth of foreign currency reserves.

And Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a sponsor of the resolution that passed on Wednesday, said after that vote that he was working on legislation for what he called “perfecting” sanctions to fill loopholes in existing restrictions on Iran.

This article appeared in print on page 1 of the May 24th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.