WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Congress took a critical step Thursday towards imposing new economic sanctions on Iran, as lawmakers warned time was running out to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
"This may be our last chance to apply pressure on Iran before it is too late," said Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who charged Iran was sprinting "to the nuclear finish line."
The House of Representatives voted 403-11 to appoint "conferees" to huddle with their Senate counterparts and meld the two chambers' rival versions of sanctions legislation into one compromise bill for passage within weeks.
The House measure urges its delegates to wrap up their work by May 28 on the legislation, which takes aim at Iran's reliance on imports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products.
Because of a lack of domestic refining capacity, oil-rich Iran is dependent on gasoline imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption.
The House overwhelmingly passed its version of the bill in December, followed by the Senate in January, but the two bills diverge on several critical points and face some resistance from the US State Department.
President Barack Obama's administration has pressed lawmakers to hold off on US sanctions until it can try to win new UN sanctions against the Islamic republic, which denies Western charges it seeks a nuclear arsenal.
Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, complained that China and Russia were resisting UN action on Tehran, and warned: "The clock is ticking, the centrifuges in Iran are spinning."
Tehran has resisted previous UN sanctions aimed at forcing it to freeze its uranium enrichment, which can be a critical step towards making a nuclear bomb.
Top US military officials told lawmakers last week that Iran could enrich enough weapons-grade uranium for one bomb within a year, and could overcome other obstacles and assemble one weapon within 3-5 years.
"The world faces no security threat greater than the prospect of a nuclear Iran," said Democratic Representative Howard Berman, the panel's top Democrat. "We must make certain that the prospect never becomes a reality."
