Special expert interview: Iran sanctions

Realite · Jul 14, 2011

Expert Mark Fitzpatrick talks about the logic of sanctions on Iran, their impact on the nuclear and missile programs and ordinary Iranians and their future... http://bit.ly/odcysL

waltky · Dec 3, 2011

Ammerjabberjob says is okay - China'll take up the slack...

U.S. Senate Passes Iran Oil Sanctions as EU Blacklist Grows
December 03, 2011 -- The U.S. Senate took aim at the Iranian central bank in an effort to choke off oil exports, while the European Union stopped short of targeting crude as it tightened sanctions intended to curb Irans nuclear program.

The Senate bill, passed unanimously yesterday, would give the president the power starting July 1 to bar foreign financial institutions that do business with Irans central bank from having correspondent bank accounts in the U.S. If enacted, it could be much harder for foreign companies to pay for oil imports from Iran, the worlds third-largest crude exporter. The Obama administration opposes the legislation. While EU remains divided over calls to halt purchases of Iranian oil, ministers meeting yesterday in Brussels added 180 Iranian officials and companies to their sanctions list and started work on measures against Irans oil exports, banks, transportation and the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Central Bank of Iran has become a vital intermediary for purchasers of Iranian crude because existing sanctions against the Persian Gulf country have constrained Irans ability to access the international financial sector to settle oil trades, said Mark Dubowitz, director of the Iran Energy Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. Renewed international pressure over Irans nuclear ambitions risks igniting tensions in the Middle East that may threaten the flow of oil to the increasingly fragile world economy. Iran denies western allegations that its nuclear program is disguising weapons development.

U.K. Embassy Stormed

The moves by Europe and the U.S. to deepen Irans political and economic isolation came as furor continued over this weeks storming of the U.K. Embassy in Tehran. European officials said the attack had the blessing of Irans government. Britain evacuated its staff from the mission and ordered Iranian diplomats out of the U.K. The assault prompted international condemnation, and Italy, France and Germany recalled their ambassadors from Iran. The U.S. administration opposed the Senate sanctions against Iran on the grounds that by targeting an important oil supplier for Asia and Europe, the move threatens to fracture the international coalition backing coordinated pressure on the country and may send oil prices soaring if world supply is perceived to be in jeopardy.

Oil-Price Risk

Theres absolutely a risk that the price of oil would go up, which would mean that Iran would, in fact, have more money to fuel its nuclear ambitions, not less, Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday before lawmakers voted. EU states are also grappling with the implications of sanctions aimed at strangling Irans crude exports. Greece has a certain number of reservations about an oil cutoff, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters in Brussels yesterday. We have to take account of them and work with the different partners so that the interruption of Iranian deliveries can be offset by higher production in other countries. Oil had its first gain in three weeks amid concern that tension between Iran and the west will disrupt Middle East exports. Futures gained 76 cents, or 0.8 percent, today to $100.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Nov. 16. Prices increased 4.3 percent this week.

UN Report
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waltky · Dec 10, 2011

Granny says she agrees with dem lib'rals dat say Obama oughta reach out to dat Ammerdinerjab - yea, reach out an' slap him upside the head...

Is war with Iran inevitable?
Friday 9 December 2011 - Former UK foreign minister Malcolm Rifkind fears Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons. Not so, says campaigner Abbas Edalat, who thinks western hawks want war

As tensions between Iran and the west escalate, and US politicians call for regime change, Susanna Rustin talks to former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Iranian-British academic Abbas Edalat, founder of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran, about Iran's nuclear programme and the likelihood of war.

Malcolm Rifkind: I do not advocate a military attack on Iran, but the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is failing to comply with agency requirements and UN security council resolutions and it is very difficult for the international community to say it doesn't matter. If Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability, that has massive implications.

Abbas Edalat: Sixty years ago the British government was demonising the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh, and it is doing the same to the Islamic Republic. When sanctions failed then, it organised with the US the 1953 coup and brought back the Shah. And in Iraq the same unfounded allegations of weapons of mass destruction that we are seeing now were used to justify an illegal war. Western intelligence sources are feeding fabricated evidence to the IAEA, whose new head [Yukiya Amano] was disclosed by WikiLeaks to be a hardline supporter of the US. But the IAEA's latest report [last month] is disappointing for the western alliance because it says Iran has not diverted its declared nuclear material [to weapons].

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Congress rebuffs easing of Iran sanctions
WASHINGTON (AP) Republicans and Democrats determined to look tough on Iran and avoid any election-year challenges to their pro-Israel bona fides are rebuffing Obama administration pleas to ease proposed penalties on Iran's central bank.

The administration argues that the crippling penalties would undercut a carefully calibrated international effort targeting Tehran and would drive up oil prices, a potential economic boon that would help finance Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon while hitting cash-strapped Americans at the gas pump. Just weeks after announcing a new round of restrictions, President Barack Obama on Thursday dismissed "some of the political noise out there" and said his "administration has systematically imposed the toughest sanctions on Iran ever." Obama said he was considering all options for dealing with Iran, but declined to be more specific.

Lawmakers are pressing ahead with penalties against foreign banks that do business with Iran's central bank, a plan that the Senate resoundingly endorsed last week on a 100-0 vote. "The administration does understand the centrality of this issue to forcing Iran. They would like to do it unimpeded by congressional mandates. That's true of every administration," Rep. Howard Berman of California, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview. "On this, we're not going to just roll over and take their suggestions." The showdown between the administration and Congress encompasses policy realities and political maneuvering.

Tough economic penalties are the most viable option short of a military strike. Looking ahead to the 2012 elections, Republicans and Democrats are intent on presenting a record of hawkishness toward Iran and unwavering support for Israel, mindful of the importance for American Jewish voters and their financial contributions to the political parties. The sanctions measure sponsored by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was added to a broader defense bill that's now the subject of closed-door negotiations between the House and Senate. Lawmakers hope to produce a final version of the policy legislation early next week.

Few lawmakers, even Democrats, have argued the administration's case for weakening the penalties. "I think Democrats are scratching their heads that the administration is leading them into a policy provision which not a single Democratic senator can support," Kirk said in an interview. He said he spoke to the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., on Thursday and he indicated that the House negotiators would accept the sanctions provision.

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waltky · Dec 21, 2011

'Iran Is Playing A Dangerous Game'...

Top US general: Iran's dangerous game could draw Mid East and US into conflict
December 21, 2011, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told CBS that Iran could build a nuclear bomb in a year or less, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff issued a warning: "Iran is playing a dangerous game that could ensnare the Middle East, the Middle East and others into conflict and a renewed arms race." During a stop in Afghanistan, the general spoke to CNN of concerns about Iran's ambitions from Iraq to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

He was described as quietly leading the ongoing military planning for an attack against Iran's nuclear weapons if the president gives the order to do so. "We are examining a range of options," said the US general. "Don't push it," he warned Iran. debkafile's military and Washington sources say it should be noted that in the space of 24 hours, America's two top security figures have referred to war with Iran as a realistic and imminent possibility. This is a big step from the customary US references to a military option as being on the table as a last resort for halting Iran's march toward a nuclear bomb still calculated to be some years in the distant future.

Gen. Dempsey went on to say: "My biggest worry is they (the Iranians) will miscalculate our resolve. Any miscalculation could mean that we are drawn into conflict, and that would be a tragedy for the region and the world." There is no guarantee that Israel will give the United States warning if it decides to attack Iran, he said, "But America is sharing intelligence with Israel. We are trying to establish some confidence on the part of the Israelis that we recognize their concerns and are collaborating with them on addressing them," the US general said.

Gen. Dempsey clarified another controversial point when he said the loss of the drone is not the end of US efforts to figure out what Iran is doing. America is gathering intelligence against Iran in a variety of means. "It would be rather imprudent of us not to try to understand what a nation who has declared itself to be an adversary of the United States is doing."

http://www.debka.com/article/21587/
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talonlm · Dec 22, 2011

waltky said: ↑

'Iran Is Playing A Dangerous Game'...

Top US general: Iran's dangerous game could draw Mid East and US into conflict
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I think 'brinksmanship' is going to be the name of the game there for a long time to come.

magomad · Dec 25, 2011

Lets hope sanctions will work on government that persecuting people like this guy ,
http://youcefnadarkhani.wordpress.com/ and not the people of Iran

talonlm · Dec 25, 2011

magomad said: ↑

Lets hope sanctions will work on government that persecuting people like this guy ,
http://youcefnadarkhani.wordpress.com/ and not the people of Iran
Click to expand...

Sanctions haven't had much success in th epast, usually only punishing the population, not their leaders. Saddam, after all, had twelve years of them before we finally tired of him. Cuba has been under economic sanctions since the revolution. It's done little other than keep the local national poor after the collapse of the USSR and their sponsorship.

I think the current campaign (and no, I have no idea who could be running such a campaign, just a lot of coincidental 'accidents' and 'acts of terrorism') of targetted assassinations and sabotage are entirely appropriate and stand the best chance of success. There are those who disagree but I doubt many could argue that open warfare would be better. Better a destabilized Iran than open warfare or a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

Clint Torres · Dec 26, 2011

Sanctions are a great way to create an enemy and more of those ignorant terrorist.

Just starve the population, cutt off access to medical tx and supplies, and you can create a very angry enemey for the next war.

I'm sure there is nothing Ima-did-a-nutjob can say that will stop isreal from instigating this one. You know isreal will not fight it, the USA will. LOL...

That is the plan is it not?

And the USA wonders why countries in South America, refuse to open up for US Corporations. LOL.

magomad · Dec 27, 2011

Realite said: ↑

Expert Mark Fitzpatrick talks about the logic of sanctions on Iran, their impact on the nuclear and missile programs and ordinary Iranians and their future... http://bit.ly/odcysL
Click to expand...

, can you RT?. Iran playing grinch save #nadarkhani - #onegoodthing in #christmas http://bit.ly/ryG8Jc my worries are for the people of Iran

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