On the recordFebruary 8, 2012
Even as we stand here today, the centrifuges continue to spin in Iran, and their illicit nuclear weapons program forges ahead. Yet, they are more isolated today than they have ever been. I commend President Obama for his Executive order freezing the assets of the Central Bank of Iran and making it impossible to do business both with Iran and with the United States. I thank our Asian allies for reducing purchases of crude oil and slashing trade with Iran, and I commend our European allies, as well, for banning the import of Iranian crude. The Iranian economy is in shambles. As a result of these international efforts, its currency is plummeting and inflation is skyrocketing. I urge my colleagues, our friends across the way in the Senate, to pass tighter sanctions still to tighten the economic noose on the ayatollahs and to force them to give up their illicit nuclear ambitions. We must stand with the Iranian people even as their human rights are crushed by the Revolutionary Guard. In their quest for democracy, we stand with them. Our efforts are paying off, Madam Speaker, we cannot let up. ____________________
