Obama Signs Toughest Iran Sanctions Yet Into Law **Updated**

NJDC — January 1, 2012 – 2:39 pm | Barack Obama | Budget | Congress | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel | Military Comments (0) Add a comment

On New Year’s Eve while in Hawaii, President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. In addition to critical funding for the defense of the United States, this legislation also contains new and powerfully biting sanctions against those - including financial institutions - who interact with the Central Bank of Iran.

The National Jewish Democratic Council commends and thanks President Obama for working closely with Congress regarding the pivotal issue of Iran, and for signing this authorization bill into law this weekend.

For three years, this Administration has worked tirelessly - and closely with Israel - to build a global coalition against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. And it is clearly having a significant effect. Just this weekend, Iran asked for a return to nuclear talks, with the Associated Press noting, “The Iranian announcement was the latest signal from Tehran that the country is feeling the impact of international sanctions.”

President Obama’s signing of H.R. 1540 into law this weekend will be another essential tool to - as the President has said personally and repeatedly - “maintain the unprecedented international pressure on Iran to meet its obligations.”

** Update January 3, 2012 **

The Washington Post reported that soon after Obama signed the new sanctions into law, the value of Iran’s currency rapidly plummeted. According to The Washington Post:

Iran’s ailing currency took a steep slide Monday, losing 12 percent against foreign currencies after President Obama on Saturday signed a bill that places the Islamic republic’s central bank under unilateral sanctions.

The currency, which economists say was held artificially high for years against the dollar and the euro, has lost about 35 percent of its value since September. Its exchange rate hovered at 16,800 rials to the dollar, marking a record low. The currency was trading at about 10,500 rials to the U.S. dollar in late December 2010….

In Tehran, people said they were bleeding money. Currency traders stopped writing exchange rates on the whiteboards propped against their shop windows as residents were trying to buy foreign currency.

Click here to read the full report. 

 

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