House overwhelmingly approves sanctions bill

It's worth noting that the House bill does not directly impose sanctions; instead, it authorizes the president to impose them. Members of the House leadership are pitching the bill as a "tool" for the president.

Nancy Pelosi, the house speaker, said the US should "use all the tools at our disposal, from diplomacy to sanctions, to stop Iran's march toward nuclear capability".

"By targeting Iran's ongoing dependence from largely imported refined petroleum we reduce the chance that Iran will acquire the capacity to produce nuclear weapons," she said.

Still, the bill is sure to provoke a negative reaction in Iran, where the regime will hold it up as proof of hostile American intent. Hojjatollah Ghanimifard, the vice president of investment affairs at Iran's state oil company, said yesterday that the bill "cannot succeed."

The regime announced today that it has successfully test-fired a Sajjil-2 missile, which has a 1,200-mile range. It would be wrong to characterize the launch as a response to the House vote -- missile launches take time to plan -- but it underscores the growing military tension surrounding Iran.

The bill doesn't become law until the Senate votes on a companion measure, and that seems unlikely to happen in 2009. Senators are busy with a health care reform bill, and a military spending bill -- which would temporarily extend provisions of the Patriot Act -- and it's doubtful they have time to tackle a sanctions bill as well.