U.S. APPROVES NEW SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
16.12.2009 13:10 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly
approved new sanctions against Iran aimed at halting its disputed
nuclear program.
The measure empowers President Barack Obama to ban foreign firms that
supply Iran with refined petroleum from doing business in the U.S.
The bill, which passed 412-12, can only become law if approved by
the Senate. The measure expands an existing U.S. law that punishes
any firm that invests $20m a year in Iran’s energy sector.
Iran has one of the world’s largest oil reserves but it lacks refining
capacity and imports 40% of domestic fuel needs.
It gets most of those imports from European firms such as Vitol,
Trafigura, Total and British Petroleum.
Under the proposed new sanctions, firms could be banned from doing
business with the U.S. or blocked from receiving financial assistance
from American institutions, BBC reported.