The president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission collaborated with Paul de Vries, president of the New York Divinity School and leader of the New York Evangelicals, and Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, in issuing a statement Nov. 2 urging all governments to apply sanctions in order to produce effective diplomacy and encourage the human rights efforts of Iranians living under a militant Islamic regime.

The evangelical and Jewish groups recommended two actions proposed by some members of Congress:

-- Sanction banks that work even indirectly with Iranian banks;

-- Sanction firms or governments that export refined petroleum to Iran.

"Such actions could quickly damage Iran's economy, shrink the regime's domestic popularity, provoke real diplomacy, and engender significant steps toward ending the Iran regime's murderous pursuit of nuclear weapons," their statement said. "Leading nations should then engage in effectual diplomacy, resulting in enforced guarantees of an Iran without weapons of mass destruction, nuclear or otherwise."

Iran contends it is developing nuclear power for non-military purposes, but other countries are concerned the effort is to establish a nuclear arms program.

The Iranian government has hesitated in recent days to follow through on a tentative agreement it had made. The regime now desires to make changes in a deal it had reached to send a large portion of its low-enriched uranium to other countries to be processed, according to The Washington Post.

Iran is building its second uranium-enrichment facility, which an official said could produce enough material for a nuclear bomb each year, The Post reported in late September. The Middle East country also completed both long-range and short-range missile tests during the same week.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been especially provocative toward Israel, denying the Holocaust and threatening to destroy the Jewish state.

Upon release of the document Nov. 2, Land said, "We stand in solidarity with all people of goodwill both in the region and around the world in seeking to stop a nuclear Iran from grievously imperiling Israel, the Middle East and the world's peace." Continued...