(WASHINGTON) - U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement today on the announcement that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the world's largest electronic payments system, will abide by a new European Union (EU) requirement to cut off its services to EU-sanctioned Iranian financial institutions:

"I welcome the European Union's new sanctions against Iran's financial sector and SWIFT's resulting actions to cut off the Iranian regime's ability to do business. These are the kinds of steps which need to be taken, and expanded upon, in order to bring to bear the greatest pressure possible on the Iranian regime.

"However, it's not good enough to stop at these positive steps. In order to have the kind of impact we need, the EU must extend its sanctions beyond the currently designated Iranian banks and SWIFT must cut off its services to all Iranian financial institutions. Further, financial sanctions are only part of the effort. All responsible nations must expand the totality of sanctions against the Iranian regime, particularly those targeting Iran's energy sector. It is deeply concerning that the U.S. and others have not applied penalties against Chinese energy companies conducting business with Iran, directly undermining the impact of international sanctions efforts.

"We cannot continue to stop short of the full, across-the-board, crippling implementation of all sanctions against the Iranian regime."