|
US fires first Iran sanctions salvo
The International News
WASHINGTON: The United States targeted Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as it fired on Wednesday the first salvo in what it hopes will be a new international campaign of sanctions against
Tehran for its suspect nuclear work.
A day after President Barack Obama pressed for a “significant regime of sanctions” against Iran , the Treasury Department ordered a freeze on assets of an individual and four
companies linked to the Revolutionary Guard.
The department designated an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and four subsidiaries of a construction company owned or controlled by the force as “proliferators of
weapons of mass destruction and their supporters.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month that the United States had the Revolutionary Guard in its sights when discussing sanctions against Iran with its
partners: Russia , China , Britain , France and Germany .
The six powers are leading the effort to curb Iran ’s uranium enrichment program, which the West fears masks a drive to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the
charge, saying it is for peaceful use of energy. All but Germany are veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council.
The New York Times, citing administration officials, reported on Wednesday that the administration
was drafting a UN Security Council resolution targeting the Revolutionary Guard, the companies it owns and the assets it controls.
US officials were not immediately available for comment amid a blizzard hitting Washington .
Obama’s tough words, combined with the Treasury action, come after Iran announced on Tuesday it has begun work to enrich
uranium to 20 per cent, which it says is for a medical research reactor in Tehran .
The move suggested Iran was spurning a four-month-old proposal by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ship most of its
stocks of 3.5-per cent enriched uranium abroad to be further upgraded to fuel the reactor.
Experts say that once Iran enriches uranium to 20 per cent, it can proceed to the 93 per cent needed to produce nuclear weapons
since the technology is the same. Iran maintains the enrichment is purely for civilian energy purposes.
“Despite the posturing that the nuclear power is only for civilian use... they in fact continue to pursue a course
that would lead to weaponisation, and that is not acceptable to the international community,” Obama said.
After trying to engage Iranian leaders and persuade them to accept the IAEA deal to defuse the crisis, Obama said
the world must be prepared to pressure Iran to change course, even if the “door is still open” to negotiations.
The world community “has bent over backwards” to accommodate Iran and yet is still ready to accept the
Islamic Republic as a member of “good standing,” he said. “What we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they are from the
international community as a whole,” Obama said.
In Moscow , the powerful head of Russia ’s national Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said Tehran ’s announcement that it had started work to produce 20 per cent
enriched uranium cast doubt on its claims not to be pursuing weapons.
Patrushev indicated the Kremlin’s patience in trying to seek dialogue with Tehran was wearing thin.
“Political and diplomatic methods are
important for regulating, but everything has its limit,” Patrushev was quoted as saying by Russian state news agencies.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the United States would propose an alternative to
allow Tehran to import the medical isotopes it says it needs for cancer patients. Iran dismissed the offer on Wednesday.
Analyst Karim Sadjadpour has said it makes sense to target the Revolutionary Guard because it
manages Iran ’s nuclear programme and has led the crackdown on anti-government protests since disputed presidential elections in June.
|
