On September 25, the US, Britain, and France revealed the existence of a covert Iranian uranium enrichment plant.  The plant, located just outside of Qom, is buried inside the base of a mountain next to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard military compound.  Iran’s nuclear chief said the site was chosen to ensure continuity of operations in the case of an attack.

The Qom plant represents the third known location involved with Iran’s nuclear program.  Earlier this week, Iran also tested another medium-range ballistic missile—a possible delivery mechanism.

What’s more worrisome than Iran’s nuclear ambitions?  Iran provides “funding, weapons, training, and sanctuary to numerous terrorist groups.”  The State Department has referred to Iran as the world’s “most active state sponsor of terrorism.”

Iran is a rogue nation with dangerous ambitions.  Unfortunately, Iran appears to be making progress towards reaching those goals.  The question is: are we complicit?

Iran is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer and is reliant on the oil sector to provide the majority of government revenues.  Iran exports 2.8 million barrels of oil per day and a $5 per barrel increase in the cost of oil results in a net gain of $7.5 billion.  That money is used to build the nuclear installations at Natanz, Arak and Qom and to fund terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

As the world’s largest oil market, the U.S. has the power to reverse Iran’s advances.  The US represents 25% of global oil demand and, therefore, can affect global oil prices by removing a substantial percentage of demand from the market-place.

We are, to a certain degree, complicit in Iran’s nuclear program.  We work with other nation’s to impose sanctions and provide incentives for Iran to jettison its nuclear ambitions, but at the same time we tie ourselves to the very resources that act as fundraisers for Iran’s programs.

The good news is we can change course.  Yesterday Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act and this bill is a good first step towards U.S. energy independence.  And in the process, it will reduce Iran’s ability to fund terrorist organizations and its nuclear program.

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