Americas

Americas

U.S. Congress passes sanctions bill on Iran

25 June 2010 03:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. U.S. Congress on Thursday overwhelmingly passed the Iran sanctions bill, paving way for the Obama administration to take unilateral sanctions on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program, APA reports quoting news.xinhuanet.com website

The bill, which was passed by 408-8 in the House of Representatives and by 99-0 in the Senate, would be send to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

Under the bill, those businesses that help supply Iran with refined petroleum or help develop the country’s own refining capacity would be penalized. Also, any financial institutions that do business with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or other blacklisted Iranian banks could be denied access to the U.S. financial system.

"We are passing these sanctions because we believe we must stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon - a weapon that would surely threaten the national security of the United States and of Israel, " said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.