New Tougher Sanctions on IRAN

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United States and its allies approve sanctions against Iran

Permanent UN Security Council members deliver rebuff to deal with Turkey, Brazil

By Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service May 19, 2010 1:19 AM



The United States sought to re-take the initiative Tuesday in its bid to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions, announcing that the major powers had agreed to a "strong" set of United Nations sanctions against the Islamic republic.

The announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton comes just a day after Iran, Turkey and Brazil declared a "breakthrough" in the nuclear standoff with a deal for storing some of Iran's medium-enriched uranium. The pact appeared to undermine U.S. efforts to secure universal backing in the UN Security Council for the new sanctions.

Clinton signalled the United States intends the sanctions agreement to serve as a rebuff to the side deal, which the White House says falls short of providing the safeguards the West seeks to ensure Iran cannot work its remaining enriched uranium stocks into nuclear bomb-grade fuel.

But she also appeared to acknowledge that American leadership had been challenged by the assertiveness of Turkey and Brazil -- two rapidly rising developing nations that have also been outspoken on other issues in their respective regions in ways that haven't always met with Washington's approval.

"This announcement [on sanctions] is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken in Iran over the last few days as we could provide," Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

She then spoke of the "sincere efforts" of both Turkey and Brazil which, in a development provoking some concern in Washington, have emerged as key diplomatic allies of Iran.

As official media in Iran gloated Tuesday that the storage deal had "checkmated" U.S. efforts for new sanctions, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said it expected world powers to "quickly announce their readiness to implement" the accord.

Canada is not biting. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Tuesday the storage deal "does not address the core" concerns about Iran's nuclear program, so there is "little choice but to pursue additional sanctions."

Clinton said the sanctions agreement was reached among the five permanent veto-bearing members of the Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- plus Germany.

Ahead of the deal Turkey and Brazil brokered, the main resistance the United States faced in pushing for new sanctions came from China and to a lesser extent Russia -- both strong trading partners with Iran.

"We have reached agreement on a strong draft resolution with the cooperation of both Russia and China," Clinton told the U.S. lawmakers.

"We plan to circulate that draft to the entire Security Council today."

But interest in Iran's storage deal appeared to be mounting even among some in the sanctions-approving "Group of Six."

China said it welcomed the deal, and urged more talks with Tehran. Visiting Spain on Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he saw the deal as a "positive step" -- although he added that Iran would have to stop enriching uranium, something the Islamic republic has refused to do.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan campaigned Tuesday in favour of the deal, which he personally helped finalize during a weekend visit to Tehran along with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"I urge the international community to support the final declaration for the sake of world peace," Erdogan told a news conference in Madrid. "There is a unique chance for us, and I believe we should take this chance."

Significantly, Turkey and Brazil sit as two of the 10 non-permanent Security Council members, among whom the United States must secure at least four votes in favour in addition to support from the other four permanent members.

Analysts say the storage deal is only a weak form of one the West approved last fall, in which Iran would have exported the bulk of its enriched uranium stockpile in exchange for ready-to-use nuclear fuel rods for a Tehran medical research facility.

Under the new deal, Iran would export the same quantity of enriched uranium, but would now be left with sufficient material to try to build a nuclear bomb. That's because Iranian scientists have continued since the fall to enrich uranium, diplomats say.

United States and its allies approve sanctions against Iran

 

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Factbox: Ties binding China and Iran


(Reuters) - China has welcomed a nuclear fuel swap plan that Iran announced after talks with Brazil and Turkey, urging negotiations over the deepening dispute with Tehran.

Iran agreed with Brazil and Turkey on Monday to send some of its uranium abroad, reviving a fuel swap plan drafted by the United Nations with the aim of keeping its nuclear activities in check. But Iran made clear it had no intention of suspending domestic enrichment the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.

Here are key facts about ties between China and Iran.

IRAN A BIG OIL SUPPLIER, BUT NOT THE BIGGEST

Iran is a major supplier of crude oil to China, the world's second-biggest consumer of oil after the United States. The U.S. has urged China to tap other suppliers.

In 2009, Iran was the third-biggest foreign source of crude oil to China, supplying 23.1 million metric tonnes, or 11.4 percent of China's total crude imports. The biggest foreign crude sources for China were Angola and the top supplier Saudi Arabia.

CHINA'S ENERGY, TRADE STAKES IN IRAN

Trade between China and Iran has grown quickly, dominated by Iran's energy exports. In 2005, bilateral trade was worth $10.1 billion. In 2009, it was worth $21.2 billion, though that was a fall of 23.6 percent from 2008, reflecting the financial crisis and the falling dollar value of oil.

In the first three months of 2010, bilateral trade grew by 47.4 percent compared with the same months last year, and China's imports from and exports to Iran both grew strongly.

The main Chinese exports to Iran include machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, textiles and consumer goods.

China is an investor in Iranian oil and gas, and Chinese state-owned energy conglomerates have been exploring for new fields there, with an eye to expanding their stake.

China's top energy group, CNPC, this year clinched a deal to develop phase 11 of Iran's South Pars gas project and expand its operations in Iran.

In the oil sector, CNPC is already in a deal to develop Iran's North Azadegan field into a 120,000-barrel per day field at a cost of at least $2 billion.

China's Sinopec Group reached a $2 billion deal to develop Iran's Yadavaran oil field in December 2007.

Industry sources have said China has also been selling gasoline to Iran, which lacks refining capacity to meet domestic demand. Chinese customs statistics do not record any recent shipments, which may go through intermediaries.

Chinese state company Chinaoil recently sold about 600,000 barrels of gasoline to Iran, despite proposals before the U.S. Congress for unilateral sanctions on fuel suppliers to Iran that have frightened off other companies.

CHINA A DIPLOMATIC PARTNER

China has kept close bilateral ties with Iran, but also backed past U.N. Security Council resolutions criticizing Tehran's stance on nuclear issues.

Western powers criticized the disputed election of June 2009 that kept President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power and condemned subsequent violence and arrests directed at anti-government protests. China did not openly criticize the Iranian government.

In October last year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told visiting First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi that his government wanted to "maintain high-level contacts" with Tehran.

CHINA WORRIED BY NUCLEAR PLANS, BUT WANTS TALK, NOT SANCTIONS

China's support for Iran is not unreserved. Beijing wants to cast itself as a supporter of nuclear non-proliferation and has voted for past U.N. Security Council resolutions pressuring Iran.

But Chinese diplomats often say sanctions are not the "fundamental solution" to the Iran nuclear dispute, and they want more attention given to negotiations.

Beijing has followed a pattern of approving U.N. decisions critical of Tehran, but resisting sanctions that could hurt its energy and economic ties with Iran.

In July 2006, China backed U.N. Security Council Resolution 1696 that threatened sanctions on Iran, and in December of the same year it supported Resolution 1737, which imposed sanctions on Iranian nuclear imports and exports.

It supported two further resolutions, one in 2007 which broadened the sanctions to cover a ban on Iranian arms exports, and another in 2008 which criticized Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council as well as Germany are negotiating a proposed new resolution about Iran that could impose fresh sanctions.

Iran is likely to be discussed next week in Beijing, when senior Chinese and U.S. officials gather for a strategic dialogue. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend.

(Sources: Reuters; Chinese Monthly Exports & Imports; U.S. Energy Information Administration www.eia.doe.gov; Chinese Ministry of Commerce www.mofcom.gov.cn; United Nations www.un.org/; John Garver, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, "Moving (Slightly) Closer to Iran: China's Shifting Calculus for Managing Its 'Persian Gulf Dilemma")

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64H0VC20100518

 

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Iran: New sanctions draft barbaric

Tehran slams six powers' draft resolution calling for harsher punitive actions against Islamic Republic, says it proves US desires to resolve nuclear issue by force only

Dudi Cohen Published: 05.19.10, 11:55 / Israel News



"Barbaric" – that is how Iran perceived the six powers' new draft resolution against it.

The draft, which is still pending the UN Security Council's approval, calls for a new series of punitive measures against Iranian banks and industries, as well as for the establishment of a maritime force, which will be tasked with inspecting vessels suspected of containing cargo related to Iran's nuclear or missile programs.

The Council will vote on the draft, which also calls for sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards, in early June.

Iranian National Security and Foreign Policy Commission spokesmen Kazem Jalali said Wednesday that the fact that the United States was insisting on imposing a new round of sanctions was "a type of modern barbarism."

Esmail Kowsari, deputy chairman of the Iranian National Security and Foreign Policy, said that the draft is a testament to the US and its allies' desire to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue by force only, and that the situation was "beyond negotiations."

The draft, he added, "Will have no impact on any nation, especially Iran." Kowsari, who was quoted by Iranian news agency ISNA, said that he knew of at least two nations within the six powers' forum which opposed it.

'Draft sets important precedent'

Ynet's senior security commentator Ron Ben-Yishai said that the draft resolution does not suggest imposing any new, harsh sanctions, but rather tightens existing sanctions, imposed as part of three previous Security Council decisions.



The main change is the suggestion of sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards, and the article barring the use of energy revenue in favor of the nuclear program.



What sets the current sanctions draft apart, is that it creates a precedent which legitimizes unilateral steps by the West against Iran – outside the UN, which, in turn, could lead to the kind of sanctions Israel demands.

The importance of the resolution lies with that precedent: Should the draft mature into a resolution it would also serve as a counter measure to Iran's diplomatic antics, such as the fuel exchange deal it singed with Brazil and Turkey.

The West's message, which Russian and China support, is clear. The fact that the vote is still several weeks away, gives diplomacy another chance.

Iran: New sanctions draft barbaric - Israel News, Ynetnews

 

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did the Chinese and Russians sold Iran in return of a nice bargain...??

 

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Russia cautions US and EU against unilateral Iran sanctions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. File photo: AP.
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Russia has warned the United States and the European Union against adopting individual sanctions that go beyond a UN Security Council resolution planned in the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, the Ria Novosti news agency reported on Wednesday.

“There is information that the US and the European Union are not limiting themselves to a common position on Iran in the UN Security Council and want to introduce additional, one—sided sanctions,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying after a phone conversation with his US counterpart, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Such leverage could breach international laws, he said.

Mr. Lavrov also confirmed that a fundamental agreement on stricter sanctions against Iran has been reached by the veto powers on the Security Council, plus Germany.

“Now, the non—permanent members of the Security Council will have a chance to weigh in on the draft,” he said.

Mr. Lavrov said he is optimistic that the discussion in the Security Council, along with a uranium swap agreement reached by Brazil and Turkey in Tehran, can lead to a resumption of talks with Iran.

The Hindu : News / International : Russia cautions US and EU against unilateral Iran sanctions

 

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Major Powers Have Deal on Sanctions for Iran
By DAVID E. SANGER and MARK LANDLER

Published: May 18, 2010

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced an agreement on Tuesday with other major powers, including Russia and China, to impose a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, setting the stage for an intense tug of war with Tehran as it tries to avoid passage of the penalties by the full United Nations Security Council.
The announcement came just a day after Iranian leaders announced their own tentative deal, with Turkey and Brazil, to turn over about half of Iran’s stockpile of nuclear fuel for a year, part of a frantic effort to blunt the American-led campaign for harsher sanctions.

“This announcement is as convincing an answer to the efforts undertaken in Tehran over the last few days as any we could provide,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, describing the agreement as a “strong draft.”

But even if the Security Council adopts the new sanctions, it is unclear whether the provisions — including a mandate to inspect Iranian ships suspected of entering international ports with nuclear-related technology or weapons — would inflict enough pain to force Iran to halt its uranium enrichment and cooperate with international inspectors. None of the previous three sets of sanctions passed by the Council during the Bush administration succeeded in their goal: forcing Iran to end its enrichment of uranium and to answer the many questions posed by international inspectors related to their suspicions about Iranian research into nuclear weapons.

Some of the toughest proposals were barely even discussed as the United States sought support from China, which is a major trading partner with Iran and has been the most resistant to new sanctions. Along with the Russians, the Chinese blocked any measure that would stop the flow of oil from Iranian ports or gasoline into the country. President Obama himself had raised the possibility of such sanctions during the 2008 campaign.

In the end, a deal was reached by the five permanent, veto-wielding members of the Council — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — plus Germany. They agreed on sanctions against Iranian financial institutions, including those that supported the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Members of the Guard Corps are responsible for overseeing the military aspects of the nuclear program and have assumed commanding roles in the broader Iranian economy.

The newest element of the sanctions would require countries to inspect ships or planes headed into or out of Iran if there were suspicions that banned materials were aboard. But as in the case of sanctions against North Korea, there is no authorization to board ships forcibly at sea, a step officials from many countries warned could touch off a larger confrontation.

Another new element bars all countries from permitting Iran to invest in nuclear enrichment plants, uranium mines and other nuclear-related technology. That appeared to be aimed at halting rumored Iranian ventures with Venezuela and Zimbabwe, or with companies in Europe.

The agreement came months later than the administration had hoped, and after a hectic week of diplomacy, capped by a last-minute phone call by Mrs. Clinton to Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, to confirm whether Moscow was on board, a senior American official said.

The United States believed that it was close to a deal last week, said the official, who did not want to be identified by name while discussing internal negotiations. But it could not resolve the final points with Russia over conventional, nonnuclear arms sales to Iran, and with China over its energy investments there.

The American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, said, “We will seek a vote as soon as the conditions are right and Council members have had an opportunity to consider it.” Several officials said that moment would not come until next month, at the earliest.

Even if the proposed sanctions survive without being watered down, administration officials concede that they are unlikely to alter Iran’s behavior, unless they are combined with considerable additional pressure.

The previous three sets of sanctions were simply ignored by many of Iran’s trading partners. “The devil has been in the implementation,” Patrick Clawson, the deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies.

The draft resolution faces resistance from Brazil and Turkey, which have seats on the Council and brokered the deal to transfer some of Iran’s nuclear fuel out of the country. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey sharply criticized the continued push for sanctions by the United States. Mr. Erdogan worked with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to reach the accord with Iran on Monday.

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Brazil’s ambassador to the United Nations, said, “Brazil is not engaging in any discussion about this draft resolution, because we are sure there is a new situation.”

Turkey and Brazil have considerable business dealings with Iran, and are seen as eager to flex their muscles on the international stage. The ambassadors from the five permanent members of the Council, speaking with reporters at the United Nations, said that they respected the compromise that the countries had reached with Iran but that it did not address their core concern: Iran’s continuing efforts to enrich uranium.

Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian ambassador, said that the draft resolution contained “language we can live with, because it is focused adequately on nonproliferation matters.”

Li Baodong, the Chinese envoy, said the resolution should signal to Iran that it needs to cooperate with the United Nations’ atomic energy agency. “The purpose of sanctions is to bring the Iranian side to the negotiating table,” he said, while praising the initiative taken by Brazil and Turkey.

Iran’s announcement that it would ship what is believed to be roughly half of its nuclear fuel to Turkey for further enrichment appeared to be a bid to undercut the American efforts to bring along China and Russia. The offer resembled an accord made with the West last October that fell apart when Iran backtracked.

Iran has said its nuclear program is intended to produce civilian energy, but American and European officials have pointed to work that seems unrelated to simply producing power.

A senior administration official said that one of the most critical sections of the proposed sanctions was modeled on a resolution passed last year against North Korea, after its second nuclear test. That resolution authorized all nations to search cargo ships heading into or out of the country if there were suspicions that weapons or nuclear technology were aboard.

In North Korea’s case, there have already been some modest successes. In one case, North Korea sent one of its ships back to port, rather than risk having it boarded and inspected.

Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting from the United Nations, Peter Baker from Washington, and Raphael Minder from Madrid.


Major Powers Have Deal on Sanctions for Iran - NYTimes.com