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OPINION, Jan. 25 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States had the following op-ed appear in the Sunday edition of The Nashville Tennessean.

Senate must vote for tough sanctions on Iran

By Richard Land

January 24, 2010

The Tennessean

On Dec. 15, the House of Representatives voted 412-12 in favor of enacting tough economic sanctions on Iran, in response to its leaders' defiant insistence on building nuclear weapons. Now that the Senate has returned to session, it must also back sanctions.

These sanctions are necessary to show Iran that we are serious. So far, the Iranian regime has openly mocked efforts by the international community to restrain its maniacal quest for nuclear weapons, and has even redoubled its efforts.

After years of efforts by the United States and our European allies, Iran has made it increasingly clear that it has no intention of responding to soft diplomacy. The House-passed bill would authorize President Barack Obama to sanction companies that provide, finance, insure or facilitate the shipment of gasoline to Iran, which sits on large oil reserves but lacks sufficient refineries, forcing it to import 40 percent of its gasoline.

Consider for a moment the Iranian regime's behavior over the past few months, beyond its calling for the violent expansion of radical Islam and the destruction of Israel. It stole the presidential election in June and then violently repressed the peaceful crowds who demonstrated against it. It jailed some of the protesters and opposition leaders and killed others. Now, it has begun a campaign to hunt down and prosecute as many of the protesters as it can find.

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