SHERMAN OAKS— Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) on Tuesday, November 22 applauded the sanctions leveled against Iran by the U.S. Department of Treasury but said they were not strict enough.  In a statement from his office, Sherman, whose area includes Sherman Oaks, said the measures were, “too timid to cause the Iranians to abandon their nuclear weapons program.”  Sherman’s comments came after the Treasury announced new sanctions against Iran on Monday.

Congressman Brad Sherman. Photo courtesy of his official website.

According to a fact sheet posted on the Treasury’s website announcing the sanctions, Executive Order 13590, signed by President Obama, “significantly expands existing energy-related sanctions on Iran to authorize sanctions on persons that knowingly provide goods, services, technology or support for the development of petroleum resources.”

The order goes on to state that “the sale, lease, or provision of goods, services, technology, or support to Iran that could directly and significantly contribute to the enhancement of Iran’s ability to develop petroleum resources located in Iran could trigger sanctions if a single transaction has a fair market value of $1 million or more, or if a series of transactions from the same entity have a fair market value of $5 million or more in a 12-month period.”

E.O. 13590 continues by discussing the sanctions Iran faces for providing goods, services and support towards the maintenance or expansion of the petrochemical sector.  If a single transaction reaches a fair market value of $250,000 or more, sanctions would be triggered.  Sanctions would also take effect if a series of transactions from the same entity have a fair market value of $1 million or more in 12 month period.

Sherman was happy the President adopted what he called, “an explicit policy providing for sanctions against companies that provide goods, services and technology for -- as opposed to investment in – Iran’s oil and gas sectors, and to provide for sanctions against those that help Iran’s Petrochemical sectors.”

The representative, who represents the 27th District of California, did say, however that some improvements needed to be made to the President’s orders.  Sherman said foreign businesses who conduct business with Iranian entities need to face strict punishments.  He goes on to add that this issue is being addressed in legislation that is currently being considered by Congress.

Sherman also said the designation of Iran as an area of money laundering under 311 of the Patriot Act due to the country’s support for terrorism, pursuit of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the illicit and deceptive financial activities that Iranian financial institutions – including the Central Bank of Iran engage in could be effective.  But he added that “we need to actually punish those foreign financial companies that continue to do business with Iran’s banks, including the Central Bank.  The action announced today will only require that US banks take greater measures to ensure that their foreign partners do not allow the Iranians to access the US financial system through them.” He concluded that Congress still needed to create legislation that would enforce tough sanctions against Iran as soon as possible. 

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