Ian Talley
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Fifty U.S. federal lawmakers Tuesday urged the Obama Administration to enforce the Iran Sanctions Act, which targets companies that invest more than $20 million in Iran’s energy sector.

In a letter signed by Republicans and Democrats, the legislators ask if the State Department has determined if a list of companies invested over the $20 million threshold and are in violation of the law.

“As Iran attempts to draw the United States and our allies into endless negotiations while continuing its illegal uranium enrichment, the time has come for the Obama administration to enforce U.S. law,” said Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., co-chairman of the bipartisan Iran Working Group. “Failure to enforce current legal sanctions could embolden Iran and undermine diplomacy,” he said in a statement.

The State Department wasn’t immediately able to comment, but has previously said it prefers multilateral action. Officials have said enforcing the Iran Sanctions Act – especially with companies based in ally countries – not only raises conflicts over sovereignty, but could stymie the negotiating process.

The legislators included House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; the ranking member of the House Foreign Relations Committee Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, R-Fla.; and nearly two dozen Democrats.

“Given Iran’s continued violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions ordering a halt to uranium enrichment activities – and the recent breach of the two-week deadline to inspect Iran’s underground facility at Qom – we urge you to consider full implementation of the ISA,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

The letter follows the first days of multilateral negotiations in Vienna between U.S., Iranian, Russian and French officials. The international community fears Tehran is using a civilian nuclear power program as a scheme to produce weapons-grade material for nuclear missiles and bombs. Iran has failed to live up to its international obligations and has as a result faced a scaling up of economic sanctions.

With difficulty getting international consensus, U.S. legislators are moving toward ratcheting up unilateral sanction powers.

Under the Obama administration, the State Department hasn’t enforced the Iran Sanctions Act through a provision that allows the executive office to waive enforcement.

Although some of the companies don’t trade publicly in the U.S., many of them do, and lawmakers say that presents a vulnerability that sanctions could exploit. The House, for example, last week passed legislation that encourages divestment from companies investing in Iran.

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