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IRAN AND SANCTIONS
Sevak Sarukhanyan
http://www.noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=4949
22.07.2010
On June 10 the UN Security Council passed a resolution 1929 on
imposing new sanctions on Iran. 12 of 15 Security Council member
countries voted for the resolution, Turkey and Brazil were against
and Lebanon abstained. Despite the information background around the
discussion of Iran's issue in the Security Council, the resolution
passed cannot be called stern.
Sanctions Resolution 1929 in its main parts:
a) restricts the activity of a number of Iranian companies on the
international market. Among those companies are the institutions
connected with the Iranian nuclear programme and the Corpse of the
Guardians of the Islamic Revolution,
b) urges the banks registered on the territories of the UN member
countries to restrict the activity of a number of the financial
institutions and among them is the "First East Export Bank PLC"
which is suspected of allotting several million US dollars to buy
the components for the Iranian nuclear programme,
c) the UN acquires a right to control the vessels of three Iranian
shipping companies and to carry out inspection at any moment when there
is a suspicion that they illegally transport armament or engineering
of twofold purpose.
In general the sanctions were imposed on 37 Iranian companies.
Here it is worth mentioning that none of the companies or banks is a
great actor in the Iranian economy. Their activity is mainly restricted
to the maintenance of defence industry and nuclear programme. Thus,
imposing sanctions on them may affect Iranian defence industry, but
it cannot have serious aftermaths for the macro-economic and social
situation in the country.
At the same time, the sanctions which were imposed on the companies
which perform specific functions do not affect the international
dealings of Iran. Iran will preserve the whole amount of cooperation
with other countries even under the sanctions which are called strict.
The resolution does not affect the main source of the profits of Iran
- the oil industry, either. Under such conditions one cannot say that
the sanctions against Iran are serious, though the international and
media communities tried to present them like that.
Iran's response Taking into consideration the aforementioned, Iran's
response to Resolution 1929 was rather tough in form and calm by its
content. In half an hour after passing the resolution Iran's Minister
of Foreign Affairs M. Mottaki stated that the resolution passed
"is the defeat of the West and evidence of Iran's rightness". He
also mentioned that "after passing a resolution Iran is not going
to restrict any of its activities in nuclear energy sector; all the
works will continue with new vigour and in a bigger way".
A day later president of Iran expressed his attitude towards
the sanctions almost in the same expressions. He only added
that "some states, supporting this resolution, just showed their
weakness". Most probably he meant Russia with which, however, Iran
began to re-establish the damaged relations in the second half of
June. On June 4 at the inauguration ceremony of mining plant in Bonab
the president of Iran came out against the West saying it was only the
West to blame in passing a resolution but while imposing the sanctions
"they try to avoid their deadly end".
As for the Iranian response, the information by the Chinese "Sinhua"
information agency is remarkable, according to which the Central
bank of Iran began selling ~@45 billion from its reserves and instead
of that bought gold and dollars. This information might have stroke
another blow to euro but for the response of Iran which stated that
"the information is untrue at current moment".
The formulation at "current moment" demonstrates that Tehran is
ready to strike a serious blow to euro but it has not considered it
finally yet. And the price for not considering it is, most probably,
the refusal of the EU from the support of the American one-sided
sanctions. Iran is not interested in the EU support of sanctions
against Iran stated by the US president and approved by the Congress
right after passing Resolution 1929. In his 10 page letter addressed
to the Ministers of the Foreign Affairs of EU member countries the
Foreign Minister of Iran M. Mottaki asks them and at the same time
urges: "One should not make irrational decisions which deliver a deadly
strike to the IRI-EU relations". Let us mention that in the first half
of this year, mainly due to the eager activity in the European market,
Iran's non-oil export grew on 30%. Iran will do everything to prevent
the EU from imposing new sanctions.
Breaking up of the common "Iranian policy" of the EU and US is of
great importance for Iran today.
On the other hand, the fact that the news about selling euro by Iran
was spread by the biggest Chinese information agency give a cause to
serious reflections and this, probably, may speak about the joint -
Iranian-Chinese - character of that information action.
Regional activation of Iran Though the nuclear programme was the
most discussed subject in Iran over the recent period, for the last
month it has seeded to the regional news and regional developments
and the main of them has been devoted to Iraq and Afghanistan. The
processes and developments in these two countries have turned into
important domestic factors in Iran because almost every day political
and spiritual figures in Iran make statements about the situation in
Iraq and Afghanistan. This is rather remarkable phenomenon because
the nuclear programme of Iran caused imposing of relatively serious
sanctions on Tehran, the US and EU leaders almost every day make
statements on Iranian issue, meanwhile the most actively discussed
subjects in the Iranian political processes regard not to the nuclear
programme but to Iran and Afghanistan.
>>From the very first sight the analysis of the Iranian statements
regarding the situation in those two countries shows that they are,
most probably, a part of strategy directed to turning Iraq and
Afghanistan into a "bigger headache" for the US and NATO. Iran
initiated the destabilization of situation in Iraq and the
manifestation of it is the ongoing parliamentary crisis in that
country which is mainly the result of the activity of "pro-Iranian"
Shiite groups directed against the creation of the "big coalition".
Most probably, Tehran came to the conclusion that there is no "way
back" in the nuclear programme, which would bring to the failure of
the negotiations and new sanctions and maybe to the military strikes.
In this context, Iran, destabilizing the situation in Iraq and
Afghanistan not only consolidates its positions in the regional
processes but also "ties" the hands of the US - its potential
military rival.
It is worth mentioning that Iran began working more actively in Central
Asia and South Caucasus too. In the recent period Iranian party rather
often turns to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and Kirghiz crisis,
makes statements and shows that here Iran has its interests as well
and it will pursue them by all means.
From: A. Papazian
Sevak Sarukhanyan
http://www.noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=4949
22.07.2010
On June 10 the UN Security Council passed a resolution 1929 on
imposing new sanctions on Iran. 12 of 15 Security Council member
countries voted for the resolution, Turkey and Brazil were against
and Lebanon abstained. Despite the information background around the
discussion of Iran's issue in the Security Council, the resolution
passed cannot be called stern.
Sanctions Resolution 1929 in its main parts:
a) restricts the activity of a number of Iranian companies on the
international market. Among those companies are the institutions
connected with the Iranian nuclear programme and the Corpse of the
Guardians of the Islamic Revolution,
b) urges the banks registered on the territories of the UN member
countries to restrict the activity of a number of the financial
institutions and among them is the "First East Export Bank PLC"
which is suspected of allotting several million US dollars to buy
the components for the Iranian nuclear programme,
c) the UN acquires a right to control the vessels of three Iranian
shipping companies and to carry out inspection at any moment when there
is a suspicion that they illegally transport armament or engineering
of twofold purpose.
In general the sanctions were imposed on 37 Iranian companies.
Here it is worth mentioning that none of the companies or banks is a
great actor in the Iranian economy. Their activity is mainly restricted
to the maintenance of defence industry and nuclear programme. Thus,
imposing sanctions on them may affect Iranian defence industry, but
it cannot have serious aftermaths for the macro-economic and social
situation in the country.
At the same time, the sanctions which were imposed on the companies
which perform specific functions do not affect the international
dealings of Iran. Iran will preserve the whole amount of cooperation
with other countries even under the sanctions which are called strict.
The resolution does not affect the main source of the profits of Iran
- the oil industry, either. Under such conditions one cannot say that
the sanctions against Iran are serious, though the international and
media communities tried to present them like that.
Iran's response Taking into consideration the aforementioned, Iran's
response to Resolution 1929 was rather tough in form and calm by its
content. In half an hour after passing the resolution Iran's Minister
of Foreign Affairs M. Mottaki stated that the resolution passed
"is the defeat of the West and evidence of Iran's rightness". He
also mentioned that "after passing a resolution Iran is not going
to restrict any of its activities in nuclear energy sector; all the
works will continue with new vigour and in a bigger way".
A day later president of Iran expressed his attitude towards
the sanctions almost in the same expressions. He only added
that "some states, supporting this resolution, just showed their
weakness". Most probably he meant Russia with which, however, Iran
began to re-establish the damaged relations in the second half of
June. On June 4 at the inauguration ceremony of mining plant in Bonab
the president of Iran came out against the West saying it was only the
West to blame in passing a resolution but while imposing the sanctions
"they try to avoid their deadly end".
As for the Iranian response, the information by the Chinese "Sinhua"
information agency is remarkable, according to which the Central
bank of Iran began selling ~@45 billion from its reserves and instead
of that bought gold and dollars. This information might have stroke
another blow to euro but for the response of Iran which stated that
"the information is untrue at current moment".
The formulation at "current moment" demonstrates that Tehran is
ready to strike a serious blow to euro but it has not considered it
finally yet. And the price for not considering it is, most probably,
the refusal of the EU from the support of the American one-sided
sanctions. Iran is not interested in the EU support of sanctions
against Iran stated by the US president and approved by the Congress
right after passing Resolution 1929. In his 10 page letter addressed
to the Ministers of the Foreign Affairs of EU member countries the
Foreign Minister of Iran M. Mottaki asks them and at the same time
urges: "One should not make irrational decisions which deliver a deadly
strike to the IRI-EU relations". Let us mention that in the first half
of this year, mainly due to the eager activity in the European market,
Iran's non-oil export grew on 30%. Iran will do everything to prevent
the EU from imposing new sanctions.
Breaking up of the common "Iranian policy" of the EU and US is of
great importance for Iran today.
On the other hand, the fact that the news about selling euro by Iran
was spread by the biggest Chinese information agency give a cause to
serious reflections and this, probably, may speak about the joint -
Iranian-Chinese - character of that information action.
Regional activation of Iran Though the nuclear programme was the
most discussed subject in Iran over the recent period, for the last
month it has seeded to the regional news and regional developments
and the main of them has been devoted to Iraq and Afghanistan. The
processes and developments in these two countries have turned into
important domestic factors in Iran because almost every day political
and spiritual figures in Iran make statements about the situation in
Iraq and Afghanistan. This is rather remarkable phenomenon because
the nuclear programme of Iran caused imposing of relatively serious
sanctions on Tehran, the US and EU leaders almost every day make
statements on Iranian issue, meanwhile the most actively discussed
subjects in the Iranian political processes regard not to the nuclear
programme but to Iran and Afghanistan.
>>From the very first sight the analysis of the Iranian statements
regarding the situation in those two countries shows that they are,
most probably, a part of strategy directed to turning Iraq and
Afghanistan into a "bigger headache" for the US and NATO. Iran
initiated the destabilization of situation in Iraq and the
manifestation of it is the ongoing parliamentary crisis in that
country which is mainly the result of the activity of "pro-Iranian"
Shiite groups directed against the creation of the "big coalition".
Most probably, Tehran came to the conclusion that there is no "way
back" in the nuclear programme, which would bring to the failure of
the negotiations and new sanctions and maybe to the military strikes.
In this context, Iran, destabilizing the situation in Iraq and
Afghanistan not only consolidates its positions in the regional
processes but also "ties" the hands of the US - its potential
military rival.
It is worth mentioning that Iran began working more actively in Central
Asia and South Caucasus too. In the recent period Iranian party rather
often turns to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and Kirghiz crisis,
makes statements and shows that here Iran has its interests as well
and it will pursue them by all means.
From: A. Papazian