Christopher Shays: “I rise in support of H.R. 1400, the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, what I call the bipartisan Lantos-Ros-Lehtinen…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 1400, the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, what I call the bipartisan Lantos-Ros-Lehtinen Resolution. We need to prohibit nuclear cooperation between the U.S. and countries who are aiding Iran's nuclear program, and we need to strengthen our current sanctions against Iran. First, we cannot talk about Iran in a vacuum. We need to pass this resolution and put other pressure on this government. We also need to make sure that we do not leave Iraq and the Middle East to this country. Iran is pursuing nuclear capabilities and is one of the world's most egregious exporters of terrorism, funding Hamas, Hezbollah and Iraqi insurgents. We are needing to confront Iran because they are funding the Iraqi insurgents, therefore killing Iraqis who are on our side. They are literally killing our American troops. The seriousness of these facts was made clear when Iran's president threatened to wipe Israel off the map. That is his intent. In addition, in April 2006, Ayatollah Khamenei told another one of the world's worst human rights abusers, Sudan, that Iran would gladly transfer nuclear technology to it. Khamenei stated, 'The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to transfer the experience, knowledge and technology of its scientists.'”