The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 71/No. 2           January 15, 2007  
 
 
UN council imposes sanctions on Iran
(front page)
 
BY CINDY JAQUITH  
The United Nations Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iran December 23 on the pretext that it has not ended its uranium enrichment program as part of developing nuclear power. Tehran responded swiftly, declaring the enrichment program would be accelerated.

Washington has been demanding an end to Iran’s nuclear program for years, charging that its government is enriching uranium in order to make atomic weapons. Uranium enrichment is necessary to produce fuel for nuclear reactors slated to generate energy. Enriched at higher levels uranium can also be used for nuclear arms. Tehran insists its enrichment program is aimed at developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes, in order to provide sufficient energy for economic development.

The UN sanctions resolution instructs all states to cease supplying Iran with materials or technology that can aid its nuclear or missile programs. It also freezes the assets of several companies and individuals connected to these programs. And it threatens to increase nonmilitary sanctions if Iran does not comply.

The U.S. government had pressed for more severe sanctions, such as a travel ban on Iranians associated with the nuclear program. This was rejected by the representatives of China, Russia, and Qatar, all of which have substantial trade with Iran. The final resolution did include a call for all governments “to exercise vigilance” if any of 12 Iranians who head the country’s nuclear and missile programs travel to, or through, their territory and to report their whereabouts to the Security Council.

Moscow succeeded in amending the document to allow it to continue collaborating with Iran in building an atomic power plant in Bushehr, currently expected to go online in late 2007.

The resolution calls on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to submit a report to the UN Security Council within 60 days on whether Iran is complying with its demands.

Iran's ambassador to the UN, Javad Zarif, pointed to the Security Council’s double standard of sanctioning his country for its nuclear program while doing nothing to Israel, whose prime minister recently admitted it has nuclear weapons.

In Tehran, Ali Larijani, head nuclear negotiator for Iran, announced that in response to the UN action, “we will drive at full speed” to accelerate uranium enrichment at Natanz, site of the country’s main nuclear complex.

The Iranian parliament adopted a bill December 27 requiring the government to "revise" its relations with the IAEA and to speed up efforts to conquer nuclear technology. It gives Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the power to end IAEA inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities.

While the U.S. government claims Iran does not need nuclear power because of its vast oil reserves, a new study released December 26 by the National Academy of Sciences suggests otherwise. The study found that there has been a big increase in domestic demand for energy in Iran, while investment in oil production has been too low to adequately maintain the nation’s oil fields.

The study’s author, Roger Stern of Johns Hopkins University, wrote that Iran’s supply of oil for export could be used up within the next eight years. Within the next five years, he estimated, Iran’s oil exports, which account for 70 percent of state revenue today, could be half their current size. "It therefore seems possible that Iran's claim to need nuclear power might be genuine,” Stern wrote.

Meanwhile, Washington is also continuing a unilateral campaign of pressure on Iran to abandon nuclear power. The House International Relations Committee announced that it is opening an investigation into a trade agreement between Iran and the China National Offshore Oil Corp. to develop Iranian gas fields. Committee head Thomas Lantos, a Democrat from California, claimed the agreement could violate recent additions passed by the U.S. Congress to the Iran Sanctions Act.

U.S. officials have also indicated they are using the UN Security Council resolution to press other governments to end a range of bank and other business deals with Iranian institutions, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which reportedly has extensive business operations.

"This resolution will be a big step forward in getting governments and financial institutions to pay more attention to Iran's use of deceptive financial practices to facilitate its dangerous conduct and to stop doing business with the IRGC," said Stuart Levey, U.S. under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.
 
 
Related articles:
Students in Iran protest president’s talk
Oppose sanctions on Iran  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home