U.S. Congress denounces Iranian president and votes to tighten sanctions

The U.S. Congress moved quickly Tuesday to signal its disapproval of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for tighter sanctions against his government and designation of his military as a terrorist group.

The swift rebuke was a rare display of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress bitterly divided on the Iraq war. It reflected lawmakers' long-held nervousness surrounding Tehran's aggression in the region, particularly toward Israel - a sentiment fueled by the pro-Israeli lobby in Congress whose influence reaches across party lines.

"Iran faces a choice between a very big carrot and a very sharp stick," said Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "It is my hope that they will take the carrot. But today, we are putting the stick in place."

The House passed, by a 397-16 vote, a proposal by Lantos, a Democrat, aimed at blocking foreign investment in Iran, in particular its lucrative energy sector. The bill would specifically bar the president from waiving U.S. sanctions.

But to become law, the House bill would have to be reconciled with any legislation the Senate may pass before going to President George W. Bush for signature.

Lantos' bill was expected to draw criticism from U.S. allies in Europe. During a visit to Washington last week, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told lawmakers that France opposes any U.S. legislation that would target European countries operating in Iran. He argued that such sanctions could undermine cooperation on dealing with Iran.

Current U.S. law imposes sanctions against any foreign company that invests $20 million (14.1 million) or more in Iran's energy industry, although the U.S. has waived or ignored sanction laws in exchange for European support on nonproliferation issues.

In the Senate, Joseph Lieberman, an independent who usually votes with the Democrats, and Jon Kyl, a Republican, proposed a nonbinding resolution urging the State Department to label Iran's military - the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - a terrorist organization.

The Bush administration had already been planning to blacklist a unit within the Revolutionary Guard, subjecting part of the vast military operation to financial sanctions.

The legislative push came a day after Ahmadinejad defended Holocaust revisionists, questioned who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and declared homosexuals did not exist in Iran in a tense question-and-answer session at Columbia University.