Friday, July 02, 2010
Toughest U.S. sanctions on Iran
President Barack Obama has signed into force the “toughest sanctions against Iran ever passed by the United States Congress” under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act.
The sanctions, imposed in addition to those adopted under the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1929, passed last month, will make it “harder for the Iranian government to purchase refined petroleum and the goods, services and materials to modernise Iran’s oil and natural gas sector,” according to a statement by Mr. Obama.
He added the sanctions would further target the Iranian the Revolutionary Guards and banks that supported Iran’s alleged nuclear programme. Mr. Obama noted that in adopting these measures the U.S. was “striking at the heart of the Iranian government’s ability to fund and develop its nuclear programme”.
Reacting to the U.S. sanctions proposal, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, “Rest assured that if they wish to sanction Iran in the energy sector, its impact on our country’s economy will be positive but it will negatively impact the talks.”
Touching upon the broader question of nuclear weapons development, Mr. Ahmadinejad said Iranians were wise enough to know that nuclear weapons are useless, noting that Iran did take part in the International Conference on Non-Proliferation Treaty and Disarmament in New York in May this year.
He said, “We think those stockpiling nuclear weapons are stupid, because such weapons proved not working. We are concerned about the safety of the American people vis-à-vis the dangers the stockpiles posed to them.” Mr. Ahmadinejad added, “A government which is unable to stop the oil leak on its water [in] the Gulf of Mexico, [how] can it handle… a safety threat [could potentially] occur in the stockpiles of nuclear weapons?”
Speaking to media and others at the signing of the sanctions in the East Room of the White House President Obama said the government of Iran still had a choice. He said, “The door to diplomacy remains open. Iran can prove that its intentions are peaceful. It can meet its obligations under the NPT and achieve the security and prosperity worthy of a great nation.”
Labels: Barack Obama, nuclear weapons programme, Revolutionary Guard, sanctions
Monday, April 12, 2010
Iran not yet nuclear capable: Gates
From The Hindu
Iran is “not yet... nuclear capable,” admitted Robert Gates, Secretary of Defence, in a media interview released on Monday. Speaking during a pre-recorded interview on the NBC program “Meet the Press,” Mr. Gates said that Iran’s present position was as dangerous as it being a nuclear state given the ambiguities of differentiating between the degree to which nuclear weapons development was achieved in that country.
Alluding that it may not be clear exactly how far Iran has gone with its alleged nuclear weapons programme, he said, “If their policy is to go to the threshold but not assemble a nuclear weapon, how do you tell that they have not assembled? So it becomes a serious verification question, and I do not actually know how you would verify that,” he argued.
During the interview Secretary of State Hillary Clinton however avoided a direct question on whether Iran was nuclear capable or not. In response she said, “That's an issue upon which intelligence services still differ. But our goal is to prevent them from having nuclear weapons.”
NPR strengthens Iran deterrent
Mr. Gates further argued that the power of the U.S. nuclear capability implied by the Nuclear Posture Review would continue to serve as the policy tool and source of deterrence against Iran, rather than nuclear disarmament under the new START deal between the U.S. and Russia.
He said the NPR would put the U.S. in a much stronger position in terms of going to other countries and getting their support for putting pressure on the Iranians and the North Koreans. “I think it also has, potentially, a deterrent effect on other countries who might be potential proliferators as they look at North Korea and, and Iran,” he added.
Emphasising that the U.S. hoped to influence the calculus of Iran’s incentives for nuclear weaponisation, Mr. Gates stated that the U.S. hoped that the Iranian government would decide that “its own security is better served by not having nuclear weapons than by having them,” a position that could be achieved via a combination of economic pressure and “more missile defence and cooperation in the Gulf to show them that… we can defend against [any attack].”
Pushing for Security Council resolution
From the comments of Mr. Gates and Ms. Clinton it would appear that the Obama administration is convinced that a key goal for the U.S. is to halt any progress in Iran’s nuclear weapons development plans. Mr. Gates argued that the U.S. would probably… get another UN Security Council resolution passed. This would also serve as a legal platform for organizations like the European Union and individual countries to take even more stringent actions against Iran.
Ms. Clinton explicitly favoured the turning the tide of diplomatic pressure against Iran through the UN Security Council. She said, a Security Council resolution would send a “really powerful message”, and Iran has been “beating down the doors of every country in the world “ to try to avoid a Security Council resolution.
However, she said, due to the U.S.’s strategic patience and willingness to keep on this issue, other countries were realising that Iran had failed to cooperate and were in fact responsible for shutting the door.
Iran is “not yet... nuclear capable,” admitted Robert Gates, Secretary of Defence, in a media interview released on Monday. Speaking during a pre-recorded interview on the NBC program “Meet the Press,” Mr. Gates said that Iran’s present position was as dangerous as it being a nuclear state given the ambiguities of differentiating between the degree to which nuclear weapons development was achieved in that country.
Alluding that it may not be clear exactly how far Iran has gone with its alleged nuclear weapons programme, he said, “If their policy is to go to the threshold but not assemble a nuclear weapon, how do you tell that they have not assembled? So it becomes a serious verification question, and I do not actually know how you would verify that,” he argued.
During the interview Secretary of State Hillary Clinton however avoided a direct question on whether Iran was nuclear capable or not. In response she said, “That's an issue upon which intelligence services still differ. But our goal is to prevent them from having nuclear weapons.”
NPR strengthens Iran deterrent
Mr. Gates further argued that the power of the U.S. nuclear capability implied by the Nuclear Posture Review would continue to serve as the policy tool and source of deterrence against Iran, rather than nuclear disarmament under the new START deal between the U.S. and Russia.
He said the NPR would put the U.S. in a much stronger position in terms of going to other countries and getting their support for putting pressure on the Iranians and the North Koreans. “I think it also has, potentially, a deterrent effect on other countries who might be potential proliferators as they look at North Korea and, and Iran,” he added.
Emphasising that the U.S. hoped to influence the calculus of Iran’s incentives for nuclear weaponisation, Mr. Gates stated that the U.S. hoped that the Iranian government would decide that “its own security is better served by not having nuclear weapons than by having them,” a position that could be achieved via a combination of economic pressure and “more missile defence and cooperation in the Gulf to show them that… we can defend against [any attack].”
Pushing for Security Council resolution
From the comments of Mr. Gates and Ms. Clinton it would appear that the Obama administration is convinced that a key goal for the U.S. is to halt any progress in Iran’s nuclear weapons development plans. Mr. Gates argued that the U.S. would probably… get another UN Security Council resolution passed. This would also serve as a legal platform for organizations like the European Union and individual countries to take even more stringent actions against Iran.
Ms. Clinton explicitly favoured the turning the tide of diplomatic pressure against Iran through the UN Security Council. She said, a Security Council resolution would send a “really powerful message”, and Iran has been “beating down the doors of every country in the world “ to try to avoid a Security Council resolution.
However, she said, due to the U.S.’s strategic patience and willingness to keep on this issue, other countries were realising that Iran had failed to cooperate and were in fact responsible for shutting the door.
Labels: EU, Iran nuclear issue, sanctions, United States, UNSC
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
