Bush
Administration Steps Up Economic Pressure On Iran
By Peter Symonds
23 March, 2007
World
Socialist Web
Even
as the UN Security Council debates a punitive new resolution against
Iran, the Bush administration is threatening to impose unilateral sanctions
against foreign corporations and banks engaged in investment and trade
with Tehran. The measures to cripple the country economically are accompanied
by ongoing US military preparations in the Persian Gulf for an attack
on Iran.
An article in yesterday’s
New York Times reported that the US “has quietly been warning
energy companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, Repsol and SKS, as well
as the governments of China, India, Pakistan and Malaysia, that sanctions
are possible if they pursue deals with Iran”. All these corporations
and countries are involved in multi-billion oil and gas deals with Iran.
The Bush administration is
threatening for the first time to invoke the 1996 Iran and Libya Sanctions
Act, which provides for a range of penalties against any foreign company
that invests more than $40 million in the development of Iranian energy
reserves. The White House is under pressure to act. Senior Democrats
are demanding a more aggressive stance on Iran and proposing legislation
that would remove the president’s option of waiving penalties
under the Act.
Democrat Tom Lantos, chairman
of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the media: “This
administration has done nothing to punish Iran. The method I don’t
favour on Iran is to bomb their nuclear facilities. The method I favour
is to starve them of resources, which can only be done through sanctions.”
His proposed legislation would not only make penalties mandatory, but
end Iranian exports to the US and bar nuclear cooperation with any countries
involved in Iran’s nuclear programs.
Lantos is also backing a
divestment bill introduced by the ranking Republican on the committee,
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The legislation would require the publication of
a list of all US and foreign entities that have invested more than $20
million in Iran’s energy sector since 1996. US pension funds would
be given 30 days to divest for any entity listed, particularly impacting
on corporations in Europe, Russia and Japan.
While Lantos declares that
he does not “favour” bombing Iran, the belligerent tone
of his criticism makes clear he has no fundamental opposition to such
an attack. Significantly, the Democratic Party leadership in the House
of Representatives this month scrapped a proposed legislative measure
to require the Bush administration to seek Congressional approval for
any war on Iran. If economic sanctions do not force Tehran to capitulate
to Washington’s demands, the Democrats have given a carte blanche
to the White House to take military action.
The US targeting of Iran’s
oil and gas reserves underscores its real purpose behind the escalating
confrontation. The Bush administration has a lengthy list of unsubstantiated
accusations: that Tehran is building nuclear weapons, supplying arms
to anti-US insurgents in Iraq, supporting “terrorists” throughout
the Middle East and so on. These are convenient pretexts to disguise
Washington’s ambitions to secure a dominant position in Iran and
control its energy resources at the expense of its European and Asian
rivals.
The economic stakes are substantial.
In early February, Royal Dutch Shell and the Spanish corporation Repsol
signed a $10 billion deal to develop a Liquefied Natural Gas project
based on Iran’s South Pars Field. The Malaysian corporation SKS
has a $20 billion venture planned to exploit the Golshan and Ferdows
gas fields. India and Pakistan agreed in 2005 to build a $7 billion
gas pipeline from Iran. Last December, China’s largest offshore
oil producer, CNOOC, signed a preliminary deal with Iran worth an estimated
$16 billion to develop the North Pars gas field.
The US is threatening to
take action over these and other deals. The US ambassador to Spain,
Eduardo Aguirre Jr, met with Repsol executives in Madrid last month
to urge them to cancel the South Pars agreement. Repsol is obviously
seeking to avoid conflict with the US, insisting the deal is not final.
“No investment is being made at present. There will not be a decision
on this until next year,” a company spokesman told the New York
Times.
A new UN resolution
US economic measures against
Iran already go far beyond the sanctions that would be imposed under
the UN Security Council resolution currently under discussion. The Security
Council passed a resolution last December imposing penalties and demanding
that Iran shut down its uranium enrichment facilities and end construction
of a heavy water research reactor within 60 days. The UN sanctions targeted
companies and individuals directly associated with Iran’s nuclear
programs and banned the export to Iran of ballistic missiles and technology
used in uranium enrichment or reprocessing.
The Iranian regime has continued
to declare that it has no nuclear weapon programs and to insist on its
right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to engage in
uranium enrichment to produce fuel for its planned nuclear power reactors.
After the 60-day deadline lapsed last month, the US pushed for a second
resolution in meetings with the other permanent members of the UN Security
Council—Britain, France, Russia and China—as well as Germany.
The text of the new resolution was finally agreed last week.
Russia and China in particular
have expressed reservations about the imposition of harsh new penalties
on Iran. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared yesterday that Russia
would not back “excessive” sanctions against Tehran. Neither
Germany nor any of the permanent members, however, has openly challenged
the US allegations against Iran or pointed to the predatory motives
behind the Bush administration’s actions. By backing the UN resolutions,
all have provided a measure of legitimacy to the Bush administration’s
drive to war against Iran.
Russia especially is playing
a two-faced game. The New York Times reported this week that Moscow
had intensified the pressure on Tehran by refusing to provide nuclear
fuel for Iran’s nearly completed power reactor at Bushehr unless
it shuts its uranium enrichment facilities. The article drew protests
from Russian officials, who denied any such ultimatum had been given.
They continued to maintain that transparent ruse that the hold up was
due to Iran’s overdue contractual payments. Russia is obviously
exploiting the issue as a bargaining chip in its relations with Washington
and possibly as a pretext to withdraw Russian technicians from the area
in advance of any US attack.
The proposed new UN resolution
would block Iran’s overseas arms sales, impose a moratorium on
trade credits and extend the list of prohibited Iranian companies and
individuals. Bank Sepah, a major state-owned financial institution,
as well as officials and companies connected to the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards, have been specifically blacklisted. The US took action against
Bank Sepah in January, alleging it had been involved in illicit missile
sales—a claim the bank vigorously denied. Washington is targeting
the Revolutionary Guards, which are closely associated with Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in the belief that the move will further
its aim of “regime change” in Tehran.
While it wanted bans on the
sale of conventional arms to Iran and tough travel restrictions on Iranian
officials, the US settled for weaker clauses calling for UN members
to exercise “vigilance and restraint” on these issues. In
the final analysis, the Bush administration’s main aim in securing
a second resolution is to lend weight to its claim to be acting in the
name of the “international community”.
The resolution is being discussed
in the UN Security Council where South Africa, which holds the rotating
chair, has objected to being treated as “window dressing”
and proposed amendments that would suspend all sanctions for 90 days
to allow for negotiations. There is little doubt that South Africa will
withdraw its symbolic protest and bow to US pressure for a unanimous
vote on the original resolution.
Iran has already declared
that it will ignore the UN resolution. The country’s supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei again insisted that the Security Council was
flouting Iran’s rights under the NPT. He declared that if the
UN took “illegal actions” then “we too can take illegal
actions and will do so”—hinting that Iran may withdraw from
the NPT altogether. Khamenei also warned the US that Iran would respond
in kind if it were attacked.
While insisting it is seeking
a “diplomatic solution”, the Bush administration has refused
to negotiate directly with Iran or take the military option off the
table and continues its menacing build up. Two aircraft carrier battle
groups are in the Persian Gulf for the first time since the 2003 invasion
of Iran and US warplanes have intensified patrols along Iraq’s
border with Iran. At the same time, the US is strengthening its allies
in the region. Last weekend the US and Israel conducted joint operations
to test Israel’s anti-missile defence systems. The White House
is also seeking congressional approval for a batch of arms sales to
the Gulf states.
At best the Bush administration
is engaged in a strategy of reckless brinkmanship that threatens to
plunge the entire region into conflict. At worst, it has already adopted
plans for an all-out military assault on Iran.
Click
here to comment
on this article