TEHRAN - U.S. Congressman Ron Paul said on Wednesday that the imposition of sanctions on Iran by the United States is an act of war, noting that a war with Iran would hurt the U.S., particularly its economy.
Paul, a Texas libertarian congressman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, made the remarks during a speech before the U.S. House of Representatives voted 421-6 on a bill to intensify the sanctions imposed on Iran under the allegation that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

The Iran Sanctions bill, which changes the existing sanctions law by adding penalties for those that aid Iran’s petroleum, petrochemical, insurance, shipping and financial sectors, is what Paul views as an unnecessary step towards war with a country that in his opinion has no intention to produce nuclear weapons, RT reported.

“A vote for this… will show that it’s just one more step to another war that we don’t need,” the congressman said, adding, “We have not been provoked, (Iran) is not a threat to our national security, and we should not be doing this. For the past 10 to 15 years we’ve been obsessed with this idea that we go to war and try to solve all the problems of the world. At the same time, it is bankrupting us.”

At a time when the U.S. has spent billions of dollars on a war with Iraq and Afghanistan, further involvement with Iran would just hurt the country – and especially the economy, he said.

He stated that imposing sanctions and blockading a country are an act of war – and the U.S. fights too many that it can’t afford.

Additionally, there is no evidence that Iran has ever enriched uranium above 20 percent – and the International Atomic Energy Agency and the CIA have determined that the country is not on the verge of building a nuclear weapon, Paul said.

By pressuring Iran to close down its nuclear power plants, to the point where the U.S. repeatedly imposes tough sanctions, Americans are simply preoccupying themselves with a country that has no intention of going to war, he added.

The U.S. congressman also said, “What we continue to be doing is obsess with Iran and the idea that Iran is a threat to our national security,” the congressman said.

And even if Iran did have the resources to go to war with the U.S., the country has no history of invading its neighbors, aside from its involvement in the (Persian) Gulf War, he added.

By voting for the Iran Sanctions bill, America is engaging in another costly mistake that mirrors the war against Iraq – a war that was a facade, based on a false idea that the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction, Paul said.

In his speech, the congressman also expressed his opposition to U.S. intentions to fight for civil liberties in Syria.

Paul, who believes that before concerning itself with civil liberties abroad, said the U.S. should reflect on its own actions. “Do you think we’re protecting civil liberties by arbitrarily dropping drones or threatening to drop drones any place in the world, with innocent people dying?”

“If we want to really care about civil liberties in Syria, why don’t we really care about the secret prisons we have and the history of torture we have in this country?”

While the U.S. is making kill lists, it is preaching for civil liberties abroad and “poking our nose in other people’s affairs, just looking for the chance to start another war,” this time in Iran, Paul said.