[Peace-discuss] Obama's charade on Iran sanctions

[E.Wayne Johnson]

This despicable resolution will give the world more reason to hate the 
American Empire and
the American people.  It is no longer enough to blame Obama or Bush or 
Congress.

It is the people of the United States who are responsible for their leaders. 
The people of the USA have the
leaders that they want, and their leaders and their military and secret 
"services" do the will
of the people of the United States.

It is the people of the United States who commit the crimes against humanity 
and it is therefore reasonable that
the "American People" themselves should pay the price for this folly.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at illinois.edu>
To: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 8:00 AM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Obama's charade on Iran sanctions


OBAMA’S CHARADE ON IRAN SANCTIONS
Posted on June 9th, 2010

Today, the United Nations Security Council will adopt a new resolution (see,
here) imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran over its nuclear
activities.  Predictably, the Obama Administration is working to spin its
“victory” in New York as both a great diplomatic achievement and a serious
intensification of international pressure on Iran over the nuclear issue. 
It is
neither.

The resolution will be adopted by a Security Council that is more deeply 
divided
overthis resolution than over the three sanctions resolutions against Iran
adopted by the Council while George W. Bush was in the White House.  It is
particularly significant that Brazil, Turkey and Lebanon are refusing to 
support
the resolution. In international political terms, this will very likely turn 
out
to be a pyrrhic victory for the Obama Administration–the Administration will 
win
a narrow, tactical battle today, but at great cost to America’s long term
strategic position, in the Middle East and globally.

Moreover, by any substantive criterion, the sanctions actually authorized in 
the
resolution to be adopted today are remarkably weak—for the Obama 
Administration,
embarrassingly so (although you won’t hear them admit it).  In the main body 
of
the resolution, there are, literally, no sanctions limiting the capacity of 
the
Islamic Republic to produce and export hydrocarbons.  The Obama 
Administration
wanted energy sanctions, but China made clear that it would not support a
resolution containing them.  So they were not included in the final text.
Likewise, there are no sanctions barring the extension of financial 
services,
insurance, reinsurance, etc. to Iranian individuals and entities.

In fact, the only mandatory measures in the resolution—that is, measures 
which
all member states will be obligated to apply—are the following:

–States will be required to block Iranian investments outside the Islamic
Republic in uranium mining or the production of nuclear materials and 
technology.

–States will be barred from supplying Iran with specified categories of 
heavy
weaponry that could potentially be used in offensive military operations.
(States, however, will be free to continue supplying Iran with weapons and
military equipment outside the specified categories—including, for Russia, 
the
S300 anti-aircraft missile.)

–States will be required to prevent individuals designated in an annex to 
the
resolution (more on this below) to travel outside of Iran—except where such
travel is justified on the grounds of humanitarian need or religious 
obligation.
  This provision is similar to travel restrictions imposed on individuals
designated in annexes to the previous sanctions resolutions.

–States will be required to freeze assets of individuals and entities 
designated
in annexes to the resolution (again, more on this below).  This provision is
also similar to asset freezes imposed on individuals and entities designated 
in
annexes to the previous sanctions resolutions.

Beyond these mandatory sanctions, there are other, essentially “optional”
measures which states may apply if they are so inclined:

–States may impose limits on the extension of financial services to Iranian
individuals and entities by financial institutions under their jurisdiction, 
if
they believe that those Iranian individuals and entities are involved in
“proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities” or “the development of nuclear
weapon delivery systems”.  States may also, if they choose to do so, freeze
whatever assets these individuals and entities have in their jurisdictions.

–States may inspect ships on the high seas suspected of carrying restricted
items to Iran—but only with the consent of the state under which any given
suspect ship is registered (the so-called “flag state”).  Likewise, states 
may
inspect any and all cargo going to and coming from Iran in their 
jurisdictions,
if states determine that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the cargo
contains prohibited items.

The Obama Administration has indicated that it anticipates these provisions 
will
provide a legal basis for other states—like members of the European Union 
and
Japan—to enact tougher national sanctions of their own.  But the United 
States
is not going to get anything approaching universal compliance with these
“optional” sanctions.  The net effect will be to accelerate the reallocation 
of
business opportunities in the Islamic Republic from Western states to China 
and
other non-Western powers.

There has been a remarkable amount of sloppy reporting by mainstream 
newspapers
over the last 24 hours or so with regard to the annexes accompanying the new
sanctions resolution.  In reality, there are four annexes to the resolution.
One lists the designated “individuals and entities involved in nuclear or
ballistic missile activities”.  Another annex lists “entities owned, 
controlled,
or acting on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”.  A third 
lists
“entities owned, controlled, or acting on behalf of the Islamic Republic of 
Iran
Shipping Lines”.  Finally, the revised P-5+1 incentives package presented to 
the
Islamic Republic in 2008 is once again included as an annex.  The first 
three of
these annexes are largely the product of intensive negotiations between U.S. 
and
Chinese diplomats.

–Some journalists claim that there are forty-one new individuals captured in 
the
annexes.  This is wrong.  In fact, there is one new individual listed; the 
other
forty individuals are already listed in annexes to previous sanctions 
resolutions.

–Among the entities “involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities”, 
the
United States was able to win the agreement of China and other Council 
members
to include only one bank that had not been previously listed—and that bank 
is a
subsidiary to Bank Mellat, which had been previously designated by the 
United
Kingdom and the United States.

–Ostensibly, there are 15 entities listed as “owned, controlled, or acting 
on
behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”.  But this is seriously
misleading.  There is, in fact, only one Revolutionary Guard-affiliated 
entity
captured in the annex—the Khatam al-Anbiya construction company.  The other 
14
entities are all either subsidiaries of Khatam al-Anbiya or subsidiaries of
subsidiaries of Khatam al-Anbiya.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that this resolution will confront 
Iran
with the most significant sanctions it has ever faced.  But that statement 
seems
to overlook the Iran-Iraq war, when the Islamic Republic was cut off from
international trade and economic activity to a much greater extent than this 
or
any Security Council resolution will ever achieve.

The Obama Administration clearly has its talking points ready—it will claim 
that
these sanctions are broader and tougher than any previous sanctions.  But 
this
is all political theater.  No one in the Administration really believes that
these sanctions will compel Tehran to alter is decision-making and behavior.
But the Obama Administration is no longer interested in finding a solution 
to
the Iranian nuclear issue—if it ever was.

As we predicted in a May 2009 Op Ed in The New York Times—before the Islamic
Republic’s controversial presidential election—the Obama Administration has
already “checked the box” to show that engaging Iran doesn’t work.  Now it 
has
started the process of “checking the box” to show that the “broadest and
toughest” sanctions ever imposed on the Islamic Republic don’t work.  And 
that
will leave the Obama Administration with no other options except formal 
adoption
of regime change as the explicit goal of its Iran policy—and/or military 
strikes
against the Islamic Republic.

–Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett

http://www.raceforiran.com/obama%E2%80%99s-charade-on-iran-sanctions

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