Senate GOP offers legislation to collapse Iran's central bank

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Thursday offered an amendment to the pending defense authorization bill that would target the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) as a reprisal for that country's persistent nuclear program. 

"Iran remains undeterred, and the United States is left with fewer options for dealing with the Iranian nuclear program as time elapses," said McConnell in presenting the amendment from the floor. "This amendment … would add to the current sanctions against Iran by targeting the CBI."

“This, in my judgment, is one of the few remaining actions short of an embargo of Iranian shipping and military intervention to slow or end the Iranian nuclear program," continued McConnell.

Last week Kirk, who penned the amendment, called attention to warnings emanating from the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the Islamic Republic of Iran could be on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon.

"I don't know what the word for smoking gun in Farsi is, but clearly the United Nations, not known for speaking clearly on many topics, is now telling us one clear thing — which is the Islamic republic of Iran is designing and moving towards building nuclear weapons,” Kirk said.

Earlier in the year Kirk, along with Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), spearheaded an effort to push the White House to move to the collapse of the Central Bank of Iran as reprisal for that nation’s persistent nuclear efforts.

The Kirk-Schumer letter, signed by 92 senators, urged the White House “to impose crippling sanctions on Iran's financial system by cutting off the CBI."