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# Legislative Bulletin....................................................February 16, 2006

**Contents:**

> **H.Con.Res. 341 ---** Condemning the Government of Iran for violating
> its international nuclear
>
> nonproliferation obligations and expressing support for efforts to
> report Iran to the United Nations Security Council

**H.Con.Res. 341 --- Condemning the Government of Iran for violating its
international nuclear nonproliferation obligations and expressing
support for efforts to report Iran to the United Nations Security
Council. ---**

***as introduced* (Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL)**

**[Order of Business]{.underline}**: The resolution is scheduled to be
considered on Thursday, February 16, 2006, under a unanimous consent
agreement.

**[Summary]{.underline}**: H.Con.Res. 341 resolves that Congress:

-   "condemns in the strongest possible terms the many breaches and
    failures of the Government of Iran to comply faithfully with its
    nuclear non-proliferation obligations, including its obligations
    under the Agreement Between Iran and the International Atomic Energy
    Agency for the Application of Safeguards in Connection with the
    Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at Vienna
    June 19, 1973 (commonly referred to as the "Safeguards Agreement"),
    as reported by the Director General of the IAEA to the IAEA Board of
    Governors since 2003;

-   "commends the efforts of the Governments of France, Germany, and the
    United Kingdom to seek a meaningful and credible suspension of
    Iran's enrichment- and reprocessing-related activities and to find a
    diplomatic means to address the non-compliance of the Government of
    Iran with its obligations, requirements, and commitments related to
    nuclear nonproliferation;

-   "calls on all members of the United Nations Security Council, in
    particular the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of
    China, to expeditiously consider and take action in response to any
    report of Iran's noncompliance in fulfillment of the mandate of the
    Security Council to respond to and deal with situations bearing on
    the maintenance of international peace and security;

-   "declares that Iran, through its many breaches for almost 20 years
    of its obligations under the Safeguards Agreement, has forfeited the
    right to be trusted with any aspect of a nuclear fuel cycle,
    especially with uranium conversion and enrichment and plutonium
    reprocessing technology, equipment, and facilities;

-   "calls on all responsible members of the international community to
    impose economic sanctions designed to deny Iran the ability to
    develop nuclear weapons; and

-   "urges the President to keep Congress fully and currently informed
    concerning Iran's violation of its international nuclear
    nonproliferation obligations."

**[Additional Information]{.underline}:** The resolution lists a number
of findings, including the following:

-   "Iran is a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the
    Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at Washington, London,
    and Moscow July 1, 1968 (commonly referred to as the "Nuclear
    Non-Proliferation Treaty"), under which Iran is obligated, pursuant
    to Article II of the Treaty, ''not to receive the transfer from any
    transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive
    devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices
    directly, or indirectly; not to manufacture or otherwise acquire
    nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and not to seek
    or receive any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or
    other nuclear explosive devices;

-   "the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in November
    2003 that Iran had been developing an undeclared nuclear enrichment
    program for 18 years and had covertly imported nuclear material and
    equipment, carried out over 110 unreported experiments to produce
    uranium metal, separated plutonium, and concealed many other aspects
    of its nuclear facilities and activities;

-   "in November 2004, the Governments of the United Kingdom, France,
    and Germany entered into an agreement with Iran on Iran's nuclear
    program (commonly referred to as the "Paris Agreement)", securing a
    formal commitment from the Government of Iran to voluntarily suspend
    uranium enrichment operations in exchange for discussions on
    economic, technological, political, and security issues;

-   "on August 29, 2005, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced it
    has mastered the technique of using biotechnology to extract purer
    uranium, adding that this method "substantially decreases the cost .
    . . in the process that leads to the production of yellowcake,"
    which is a part of the early stages of the nuclear fuel cycle;

-   "on September 24, 2005, the IAEA Board of Governors adopted a
    resolution finding that Iran's many failures and breaches of its
    obligations to comply with the Safeguards Agreement constitute
    noncompliance in the context of Article XII.C of the Statute of the
    IAEA and that matters concerning Iran's nuclear program have given
    rise to questions that are within the competence of the Security
    Council as the organ bearing the primary responsibility for the
    maintenance of international peace and security;

-   "President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expressed, in an October 26,
    2005, speech, his hope for 'a world without America' and his desire
    'to wipe Israel off the map' and has subsequently denied the
    existence of the Holocaust;

-   "on January 3, 2006, the Government of Iran announced that it
    planned to restart its nuclear research efforts;

-   "in January 2006, Iranian officials, in the presence of IAEA
    inspectors, began to remove IAEA seals from the enrichment facility
    in Natanz, Iran;

-   "President Ahmadinejad stated, ''The Iranian government and nation
    has no fear of the Western ballyhoo and will continue its nuclear
    programs with decisiveness and wisdom;

-   "on February 4, 2006, Resolution GOV/2006/14 of the IAEA Board of
    Governors relayed an ''absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear
    programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes resulting from the
    history of concealment of Iran's nuclear activities, the nature of
    those activities and other issues arising from the Agency's
    verification of declarations made by Iran since September 2002;

-   "on February 4, 2006, the IAEA Board of Governors reported Iran's
    noncompliance with its IAEA safeguards obligations to the Security
    Council;

-   "Iran has, since February 4, 2006, taken additional steps confirming
    its unwillingness to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation
    obligations; and

-   "Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism for over two
    decades and the Department of State has declared in its most recent
    Country Reports on Terrorism that Iran ''remained the most active
    state sponsor of terrorism in 2004."

**[Committee Action]{.underline}**: On February 15^th^, the resolution
was introduced and referred to the House Committee on International
Relations, which took no official action.

**[Cost to Taxpayers]{.underline}**: The resolution authorizes no
expenditure.

**[Does the Bill Expand the Size and Scope of the Federal
Government?]{.underline}**: No.

**[Does the Bill Contain Any New State-Government, Local-Government, or
Private-Sector Mandates?]{.underline}**: No.

**[RSC Staff Contact]{.underline}**: Joelle Cannon;
<joelle.cannon@mail.house.gov>, (202) 226-9717

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