Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to join you in welcoming Under Secretary Burns and Assistant Secretary O'Brien to the Committee to discuss reauthorization of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act - called ILSA.

We reported out a version of the original legislation in 1996, and we reauthorized the Act in 2001. That reauthorization expires this coming August, which is part of the reason we are called to consider it once again. Of course, sanctions against Libya have been lifted in view of the dramatic change in Libyan policy.

Trade with and investment in Iran has been banned by Executive Order since 1995. Iran is one of a small group of countries listed by the Department of State as state sponsors of terrorism, and as such it is also ineligible for trade preferences, U.S. foreign assistance, and U.S. support through the World Bank or International Monetary Fund, or multi-lateral financial institutions.

ILSA adds to these measures. It requires the President to impose at least two out of a menu of six sanctions on foreign companies that invest more than $20 million a year in Iran's energy sector. The six possible sanctions are:

Denial of Export-Import Bank financing for exports to the foreign company;

Denial of licenses for U.S. export of military or militarily-useful technology to the foreign company;

Denial of U.S. bank loans exceeding $10 million in one year to the company;

A ban on the company's serving as a primary dealer in U.S. government bonds;

A ban on U.S. government procurement from the foreign company; and

A restriction on U.S. imports from the company.

The application of ILSA may be waived by the President, and the statute would cease to apply if Iran ends its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction and if it is removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. So there is a clear path for the non-application of this legislation, it seems to me, a clear reasonable path for any country wishing to play a responsible role in the international scene to follow.

Regrettably, Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapons program and its material support for terrorists present very serious threats to an international peaceful order. The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act is an important tool for bringing pressure to bear on the Iranian regime, and it is my sense of it that there is broad agreement in the Congress that the Act should not be permitted to expire.