Washington (Platts)--28Jun2007

A day after Iranians took to the streets to protest new gasoline
rationing rules, two US House members Thursday introduced legislation to
broaden current sanctions against Iran to include all companies that provide
or help provide gasoline to the regime.

     The Iran Sanctions Enhancement Act of 2007, introduced by Representative
Mark Kirk, Republican-Illinois, and Representative Rob Andrews, Democrat-New
Jersey, would threaten sanctions against any company or individual that
provides Iran with refined petroleum products or engages in an activity that
could contribute to the enhancement of Iran's ability to import refined
products after December 31. The bill could potentially lead to sanctions
against gasoline brokers, tankers and insurers. US companies are prohibited
from trade with Iran under unilateral sanctions, but most foreign companies
are free to trade with Tehran.

     "As Iran continues to defy the UN Security Council and International
Atomic Energy Agency, we need to explore new economic sanctions to augment our
diplomacy," Kirk, a member of the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations
Subcommittee, said in a statement. "Legislation targeting gasoline imports
offers the best way for IAEA safeguards to succeed."

     Even though Iran is a top oil producing nation, exporting around 2.6
million b/d of crude, it lacks the refining capacity to meet its domestic
demand of gasoline. Iran currently imports about 40% of its gasoline. On
Wednesday, Iran's oil ministry implemented a new rationing requirement for
gasoline, setting off violent demonstration across the country.

     The lawmakers said most of Iran's gasoline imports come from Gulf States
and India brokered by the Dutch trading house Vitol. Most of the gasoline
tankers are insured by the UK's Lloyds of London.

     "I have long advocated for economic sanctions against Iran as part of an
international diplomatic effort to halt the regime's pursuit of nuclear
weapons in defiance of the United Nations," Andrews said. "An international
restriction on the supply of gasoline would serve as a critical diplomatic
tool to deny Iran the ability to further its efforts to acquire nuclear
weapons."

		--Cathy Landry, cathy_landry@platts.com