(Washington, DC) - "Thank you Mr. Chairman. My amendment builds upon the bipartisan principle established by Congress in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: that corporate decisions and corporate acts can not be legally or morally disassociated from the men and women who make them. Incorporation is a legal mechanism to limit financial liability. It is not, and should not ever be thought of as form of blanket immunity for shameful decisions or illegal acts.

 Large scale investing in Iran’s petroleum sector is both. For those capable of the sensation, it is shameful.  And for those who by nationality or investment decision fall under the jurisdiction of American laws, it is illegal.

 Those who have invested in Iran’s petroleum sector may have done so because the definition of “persons” covered by the Iran Sanctions Act does not explicitly point to corporate officers, or provide penalties when they are responsible for investment decisions that pump desperately needed money into Iran’s petroleum sector. My amendment will close this loophole. My amendment will give the President the discretion to block the personal assets in the United States of a corporate officer responsible for a sanctionable investment in Iran, and to name them as a sanctioned person in the Federal Register.

 Iran is a terror state. It is the world’s leading terror-state. Investment in Iran’s petroleum sector enables that country to pursue nuclear weapons, to arm insurgents fighting American troops, and to underwrite Hezbollah and Hamas. Foreign investment in Iran equals money for terrorism and attacks on Americans. Let me repeat that for the business community and their lawyers: Foreign investment in Iran equals money for terrorism and attacks on American troops.

 You can’t invest with Al Capone without underwriting gangsterism. And you can’t invest in Iran without underwriting terrorism.

 It is hard to make the intent of Congress more plain than the Iran Sanctions Act. If there are any business interests still pondering a large-scale investment in Iran’s petroleum sector, here is some free advice: Don’t do it. Don’t even think of doing it. Don’t do it today. Don’t do it tomorrow. Don’t do it ever.

 As obvious as the Iran Sanctions Act is, too many businesses have made the calculation that profit-seeking in Iran matters more than human lives, or the security of their own nations. Investment in Iran doesn’t happen by accident or by magic. As the author C. S. Lewis warned, such decisions are “conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”

 The corporate executives who have signed the contracts and issued the orders to invest in Iran’s oil sector have effectively signed death warrants for all those who have been murdered by Hamas and Hezbollah. For the sake of wealth, they have chosen to underwrite Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. They may refuse to accept this responsibility, but it lies with them nevertheless.

 Our experience with the Iran Sanctions Act has shown that we cannot rely on the business community to do the right thing. My strong belief is that if we grab them hard by their own swollen wallets, their hearts and minds will very quickly follow."

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