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Clinton signs bill to punish Russia for helping Iran

WASHINGTON: President Bill Clinton on Tuesday signed legislation designed to punish Russia and other countries if they help Iran develop weapons of mass destruction.

The Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 handed Clinton's administration the discretionary authority to impose sanctions on any country that supplies nuclear, biological or chemical weapons equipment or technology to Tehran.

The U.S. Senate approved the bill on Feb. 24 after the House of Representatives passed it last year. It is aimed at prodding the Clinton administration to take a more aggressive stance on Russian weapons proliferation to Iran.

"I fully share the Congress' objective of promoting nonproliferation and combating Iran's efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction and missile delivery systems," Clinton said in a statement.

"This issue remains at the top of the agenda with Russia as well as with other countries whose companies may be providing such assistance to Iran."

When the Senate approved the bill, the White House had said it thought the new legislation was unnecessary, that there already existed sufficient tools to impose penalties on Iran.

Bipartisan support for the legislation grew out of Republican criticism of the administration's Russia policy and intelligence reports that Russian firms, scientists and academics are top providers of sophisticated weapons technology and materiel to Iran.

Yet the bill was passed amid hopeful signs of a possible easing of tensions between Washington and Tehran after the Iranian reformists' election victory last month.

Clinton said the bill as passed was less problematic than the version the House approved and will not harm U.S. efforts to stop international cooperation with Iran's missile programmes.

He also said he wanted to make it clear that Russia continued to be a valued partner in efforts to build an International Space Station. The new legislation has no impact on that, he said.-Reuters