Bill Introduced in Congress to Impose Conditions on U.S.-UAE Nuclear Agreement

On December 9th, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, introduced the Limitation on Nuclear Cooperation with the United Arab Emirates Act of 2008 (H.R. 7316), a bill that would impose conditions on the proposed agreement between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (commonly known as a "123 Agreement").

Section 3(c) of H.R. 7316 requires the President to certify to Congress that the UAE has met a number of stringent conditions before the 123 agreement could be enacted or before any licenses are issued for the export of nuclear material, equipment or technology to the UAE.

Among other things, the President would have to certify that the UAE Government has:

• Taken effective actions to prohibit, terminate, and prevent the transfer of goods, services, or technology to the Government of Iran, including fully implementing United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran.

• Developed and fully implemented an export control regime in accordance with international standards.

• Developed and implemented the appropriate or necessary legislative and functional actions to target the logistical and financial networks that support terrorist organizations.

• Not violated the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act and other provisions of applicable U.S. law.

This bill will not be considered during the remaining days of the 100th Congress, but will certainly be reintroduced when the next session of Congress convenes on January 6, 2009. As indicated in the excellent report on this bill at the Global Security Newswire, this bill was introduced now since the U.S.-UAE 123 Agreement appears very close to being signed.