Download or read book The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA). written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) was conceived in the context of a tightening of U.S. sanctions on Iran during the first term of the Clinton Administration. Most experts attributed the imposition of additional sanctions to Iran's stepped up efforts to acquire nuclear expertise -- it signed a contract with Russia in January 1995 for construction of a nuclear power reactor at Bushehr -- and to a 1994-1995 spate of terrorist attacks in Israel by the Islamist organizations Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad, both of which receive some financial and material assistance from Iran, according to annual U.S. State Department reports on international terrorism. In 1995, President Clinton issued two executive orders: Executive Order 12957 (March 15, 1995), which banned U.S. investment in Iran's energy sector, and Executive Order 12959 (May 6, 1995), which banned U.S. trade with and investment in that country. The Clinton Administration and many in Congress maintained that the new U.S. sanctions might deprive Iran of the ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and fund terrorist groups by hindering its ability to modernize its key source of revenue -- the petroleum sector. The effect on Iran would be significant, according to this view, if U.S. allies joined the U.S. trade and investment ban. ILSA (P.L. 104-172) was due to expire on August 5, 2001, 5 years after enactment. Debate on renewal of ILSA centered on the difficulties incurred in implementing it, reactions to ILSA on the part of U.S. allies, and changes in U.S. relations with Iran and Libya since enactment. On August 3, 2002, President Bush signed into law H.R. 1954, P.L. 107-24, the ILSA Extension Act of 2001, renewing ILSA for another 5 years. No firms have been sanctioned under ILSA. This report will be updated to reflect legislative developments. See also CRS Issue Brief IB93033, "Iran: Current Developments and U.S. Policy," and CRS Issue Brief IB93109, "Libya."