THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By SPENCER SWARTZ And STEVE STECKLOW
A U.S. House committee has proposed barring the Pentagon from buying fuel from companies that do business with Iran’s energy industrya stance that is a long shot for becoming law but that underscores U.S. lawmakers’ ongoing dissatisfaction with international efforts to slap tough sanctions on the nuclear ambitions of Tehran.
An amendment to a defense-spending bill, co-sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat and passed with full support in the House Armed Services Committee, would cost some European oil firms billions of dollars in Pentagon contracts if they buy Iranian oil, and would dramatically escalate U.S. sanctions against Tehran. “The Secretary of Defense may not enter into any contract with an entity that engages in commercial activity in the energy sector of Iran,” the amendment says, according to a copy reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.