United States Congress presents Iran legislation

United States Congress presents Iran legislation

10-17-2009 09:17

The American Congress provided its President legislation that excludes overseas firms that sell fuel to the Islamic Republic of Iran from holding US gasoline contracts. These sanctions are the result of Iran’s notorious uranium enrichment plan, which forced the US to create unilateral embargoes.

Iran legislation

The sanctions bar foreign companies that provide Iran refined petroleum with a value of more than one million Dollars from also winning United States Department of Energy (DOE) contracts to provide the emergency Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) supply.

The measure also relates to non-US firms that supply Iran with any form of support to increase Iran’s capacity of refinement or their capability to import refined oil products. The legislation is part of the energy spending bill by the Department of Energy and was validated by the Senate in a 80-17 vote two weeks ago, while the House of Representatives previously approved the legislation.

After the vote on 1 October in the House of Representatives, the US Senators Jon Llewellyn Kyl and Susan Margaret Collins commented that foreign companies are allowed to do business in the economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which represents a value of 250 billion Dollar, as well as in America’s 13 trillion Dollar economy.

Additional legislation

Howard Lawrence Berman, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, stated that his committee will propose additional legislation that will bar non-US firms to sell gasoline to the Islamic Republic of Iran or help Iran’s import to do business in the North American nation.

Comparable measures will be brought up by the American Senate, which will probably be part of a package of measures initiated by Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
Iran imports 40% of its fuel requirements, regardless of the fact that it is one of the main oil suppliers in the world. There are concerns in the United States that Iran enriches uranium in order to create nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the country in Western Asia stated that its nonviolent nuclear program only targets on electricity.

Industrial turnover and new orders

Industrial turnover in Spain fell 18.8% year-on-year in August, while it dropped 24.9% in July, according to today’s figures by the National Statistics Institute. The industrial turnover has monthly declined in double digits since October 2008. In the January to August period, turnover dropped 26.5% from the corresponding period of the previous year.
Industrial new orders dropped 18.4% on a yearly basis in August, as it declined 26.1% in July. New industrial orders have also fallen in double digits since October 2008. In the first eight months of the year, new orders declined 27.9% compared to last year.