The U.S. House of Representatives today reaffirmed its support for imposing crippling sanctions on the Iranian theocracy and its energy sector as a tool to persuade the regime to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

U.S. Representative Howard “Buck” McKeon, the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted in support of a motion to instruct conferees on the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (H.R. 2194) to send the strongest bill to the President.

“The international community is rightly discussing how to prevent Iran’s religious theocracy from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but the clock is ticking.  With each passing day, Iran gets one step closer to assembling the components necessary to make a nuclear weapon,” said McKeon.  “Today’s vote reaffirms our commitment to imposing crippling sanctions on Iran and attempts to ensure a bill is forwarded to the President for his signature before Memorial Day.”

The motion to instruct conferees, which was approved by a strong bipartisan vote, was introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and would instruct conferees on the Iran sanctions bill to:

• Insist on the provisions of H.R. 2194, a bill to amend the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 to enhance United States diplomatic efforts with respect to Iran by expanding economic sanctions against Iran, as passed by the House on December 15, 2009; and

• Complete their work and present a conference report and joint explanatory statement by no later than May 28, 2010.