The House on Tuesday passed a measure to impose tough new sanctions on Iran, including a ban on all imports and an expansion of curbs on exports to that country.

The bill (HR 1400), passed by 397-16, was a late addition to the schedule on the same day Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.

Sponsored by Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., it is the toughest in a series of measures the House has passed in recent months targeting Iran’s nuclear program and sponsorship of groups on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

The bill would strengthen sanctions President Bush signed into law in 2006 (PL 109-293) that have been waived since their initial enactment in 1996.

It would bar all Iranian imports, including carpets, to the United States and would expand sanctions on exports to Iran. It also would remove Bush’s ability to waive sanctions on corporations doing business with Iran’s energy industry.

The measure also would block U.S. nuclear cooperation with countries that assist Iran’s nuclear program and would decrease U.S. contributions to the World Bank by the same amount as the bank’s loans to Iran.

The bill specifically states that the administration cannot interpret anything in the legislation as a congressional authorization of a military strike on Iran.

The Senate, meanwhile, was set to vote later Tuesday on a nonbinding amendment to the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill (HR 1585) that would call for the Revolutionary Guard to be designated a terrorist organization. The administration has been considering that action, which would allow the United States to freeze its assets and those of businesses that aid them.