U.S. senators favor sanctions on Iranian gas trade

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Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Twenty-five U.S. senators from both parties on Tuesday proposed giving President Obama new leverage for stopping Tehran from going nuclear: the authority to sanction companies that export gasoline to Iran.

"The new sanctions include everything up to and including prohibiting these entities from doing business in the United States," Democratic Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, one of the bill's co-sponsors, told reporters.

Although Iran is rich in oil, its capacity to turn the resource into the gasoline and diesel fuel is limited and lawmakers estimate that up to 40 percent of Iran's gasoline is imported.

The legislation introduced by one-fourth of the Senate is similar to a bill introduced last week in the House of Representatives.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSN2835271920090428

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1. They want to put an embargo

on Euro-zone gas sales to Iran. This sounds like the kind of dumbass move the Bushistas loved; wholely ineffective, but calculated to piss off friends and enemies alike. Of course Schumer had to be involved. Makes you wonder if AIPAC isn't behind this.

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2. They do seem confused.

But then they seem desperate too.

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5. Desperation is a bad habit

that congressional democrats need to break.

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6. True, time to grow up.

The empire just is not what it used to be. Fantasizing will just make it worse.

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3. smart

I was reading an article online the other day, and the author said that Israel didn't need to bomb Iran's reactors. What they needed to do was blow up their refineries. Iran may be one of the world's biggest oil exporters, it is a net gasoline importer. Blow up one of those, and everything in that country will grind to a halt.

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4. It's not a new idea.

The basic problem is that if outside parties bomb the refineries, the Iranians will not blame their government for the resulting shortages.

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8. Any attack that doesn't take out the government is doomed to fail

Iran could release hell through its terrorist proxies if it had half a mind.

The country might grind to a halt, but then it would increase their determination to finish the nuclear program and give them the incentive to develop weapons with it.

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7. This will just push them closer to China for their energy trade

I don't see this as a positive for us or much of a negative for them.

Iran's nuclear program for energy production is supported by the Mullahs, and it will be a very long time before they are out of power.

We need to work with Iran in keeping its program away from weapons production. The stick routine doesn't work, nor has it for some time against Iran or North Korea.

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9. Energy embargoes stimulate the drive for nuclear power

This is exactly what drives the North Korean program.