The draft law, passed by a 397-16 vote, states the White House must not cooperate with Russia and other countries that provide assistance to Iran in the nuclear sphere or that supply improved conventional weapons or missiles to Iran.
Tom Lantos, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, who authored the bill, said: "Iran faces a choice between a very big carrot and a very sharp stick...It is my hope that they will take the carrot. But today, we are putting the stick in place."
The document says that no agreement on nuclear cooperation between Russia and the U.S. can be signed or enter into force, unless the U.S. president can prove to Congress that Russia has stopped giving any nuclear assistance to Iran, and ceased supplies of upgraded conventional weapons and missiles to the Islamic Republic.
Western countries, led by the U.S., suspect Iran of pursuing a secret nuclear weapons program, but the country insists that its nuclear program is of civilian nature. The Islamic Republic recently intensified cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is currently in the United States on a visit, caused uproar when he spoke at Columbia University in New York by calling the holocaust a "myth."
