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Gohardasht Political Prisoners Denied Proper Food and Treatment in Ongoing Pressures

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Gohardasht Political Prisoners Denied Proper Food and Treatment in Ongoing Pressures

 

According to reports, inhumane pressures have increased against political prisoners in the Gohardasht Prison in Karaj. An example of these pressures is the reduction of the quality and quantity of the prisoners’ food. The dinner given to political prisoners which was one egg, one potatoes and one piece of bread has been replaced with 15 grams of halva and a small, thin piece of factory bread and the quantity of all other meals given to prisoners has been lowered as well.

On the other hand, in a coordinated measure, simultaneously with the reduction of the quantity and quality of food, the prison shops that usually sold expired canned foods have largely stopped selling canned foods and other goods.

The head of Gohardasht Prison, Mohammad Mardani, had threatened political prisoners before this that if sanctions were increased, the first people that would have to pay were political prisoners.

In other reports, ailing political prisoners who are taken to the infirmary in critical condition are also pressured. For example, an ailing political prisoner who is prescribed 30 pills for his ailment only receives 10 of the pills.

Notably, telephones used by political prisoners have been cut off since January 2011. A number of political prisoners such as Arjang Davoudi and Loqman and Zaniar Moradi have been banned from family visits with their families. (Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran – Jan. 25, 2012)

EU Oil Embargo Sanctions Benefit Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

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EU Oil Embargo Sanctions Benefit Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

 

By Christoph Sydow

The EU has banned oil imports from Iran to try and pressure the regime into making concessions over its controversial nuclear program. But even though the Iranian economy is suffering, Tehran is refusing to give ground. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guards are profiting from the sanctions.

The so-called oil weapon has been part of the arsenal of international power politics ever since the 1970s. In 1973, the oil-exporting countries in the Middle East cut back daily production in a bid to force the West to abandon its support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Iran was among the states involved in that embargo. Now, almost four decades later, oil is again being used as a weapon — with the roles reversed.

On Monday, European Union foreign ministers agreed to ban the import of petroleum and petrochemical products from Iran from July 1, 2012. New investments in Iranian oil companies will no longer be permitted, nor can equipment and technology necessary for the oil industry be exported to Iran any more. Financial sanctions will also be strengthened, and a large chunk of the assets of the Iranian Central Bank will be frozen. In addition, the US Treasury has put the Iranian Tejarat Bank on its blacklist. The bank was “one of Iran’s few remaining access points to the international financial system,” according to the department.The embargo is designed to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. Negotiations between Iran on one side and the group of the US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China on the other have been on hold for a year. Tehran’s chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, has made recognizing Iran’s right to enrich uranium a precondition for a resumption of the talks.

Tehran Closer to the Bomb Despite Sanctions

The West has been trying to force the Iranian regime to abandon its nuclear program for years. Since 2006, these efforts have included gradually tightening the sanctions against Tehran put in place by the United Nations, the US and the EU — so far without success. With each embargo, Western politicians have proclaimed that, this time, the Iranian economy will really feel the pressure, but the only result has been the regime apparently getting closer and closer to an atomic bomb. Tehran announced that it had begun to enrich uranium to 20 percent just a few days ago. Nevertheless, the Iranians still deny they are trying to develop nuclear weapons.

And now Europe has, for the first time, adopted measures aimed directly at the oil sector, an extremely important one for Iran. But it is still doubtful whether these new sanctions will bring forth any results.

About 20 percent of Iran’s oil exports go to the EU. So Europe is an important — but by no means the most important — buyer for the Iranians. About three-quarters of their oil exports are shipped to resource-hungry countries in East and South Asia, such as China, Japan, India and South Korea. Despite pressure from America and Europe, these countries have so far been unwilling to join in with the sanctions.

Similarly, Turkey seems likely to want to profit from the policy, rather than taking part: Ankara imports a third of its oil from Iran, and the punitive measures against Iran’s central bank are also likely to further increase the importance of Turkish financial institutions in transactions with Iranian trading partners.

Greece Wanted to Postpone Sanctions

Even the sanctions adopted by EU member states are only going to come into force gradually. Officially, this is to give the Iranians the opportunity to back down. In actual fact, however, the crisis-hit southern European states need time to search for new suppliers. Greece gets about 20 percent of its oil from Iran, Spain and Italy slightly less. Athens in particular had pleaded to postpone the ban until Oct. 1.

In the short term, it is expected that at least some European countries will find it more difficult to source affordable alternatives to Iranian oil than it will be for the Iranians to find new customers. Although the price of oil rose slightly after the EU announced the move on Monday, the effect of the sanctions, according to observers, had already been factored into price increases in recent weeks.

There is no question that Iran’s economy is already suffering under the sanctions currently in force. Unemployment and inflation have soared in recent months, while the currency, the Iranian rial, has lost 40 percent of its value against the US dollar within a year. This affects the Iranian middle class in particular. Ironically, it is the regime itself that benefits from the sanctions policy.

Out on a Limb

The Western restrictions on trade are forcing Iranian companies to resort to illegal means to do business with other countries, whether it be delivering banned goods to Iran via the smuggling routes across the Persian Gulf or through front companies abroad that facilitate transactions between Iranian and Western firms. The multi-tentacled Revolutionary Guards and the companies that they control are involved in most of these transactions. They are prepared to turn a blind eye to smuggling in exchange for payment. In addition, the Revolutionary Guards, who are the military and economic backbone of the regime, also control the Iranian black market in Western goods and foreign currency.The Iranian government has long turned the nuclear issue into a matter of national prestige. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have gone so far out on a limb in the conflict with the West that in future, any concession will look like giving in. Finding a solution to the dispute which would allow the Iranian leadership to save face seems almost impossible. This is all the more true as Ahmadinejad’s domestic standing is badly damaged and he barely has the authority any longer to enforce a possible compromise in Iran. That is one reason why Tehran has repeatedly threatened in recent weeks to blockade the Strait of Hormuz in the event of further punitive measures from the West.

The new sanctions are therefore unlikely to bring about any movement on the nuclear issue. Only when Iran elects a new president in June 2013 can the West hope for change. The emphasis there is on “hope” — it should not expect anything.

Azerbaijan foils Iranian-Hizballah terror strike against Israel targets and Habad

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Azerbaijan foils Iranian-Hizballah terror strike against Israel targets and Habad

 

 Hizballah cell backed by intelligence from Tehran and external Iranian terror cells in Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, was captured in Baku on Jan. 19 by Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry (MNS) officers as it was about to launch a series of attacks on the Israeli embassy,  Chief Rabbi Shneor Segal and Rabbi Mati Lewis at the Habad center and visiting Israel personages.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources disclose that two of the Hizballah cell members live permanently in Baku. The third, who resides in Tehran, was recruited by Iranian intelligence to lead the Hizballah operation, which was the first joint Iranian-Hizballah terrorist attack ever discovered.
In its sights too were the former Israeli chief of staff Gaby Ashkenazi who was due to visit to the Azerbaijan capital and several local high officials who work with the United States and Israel. They were suspected by Tehran of helping the US and Israel set up an attack on Iran from Azerbaijan.

The two Habad figures are Israeli-born heads of the Jewish community in Baku and the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish Day School,
The cell was rounded up just weeks after a Hizballah terrorist strike against the local Habad center was preempted in Bangkok, thanks to Thai-Israeli counter-terror cooperation. There, Hizballah had intended to take hostages and blow up the Habad headquarters, aping al Qaeda’s 2009 outrage in Mumbai.
Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz had this to say Tuesday, Jan. 24: “We stand guard over the nation’s security in near and distant arenas. Our borders appear calm. But at the very time that our enemies in the north avoid striking us for fear of painful punishment, Hizballah and other hostile elements are making every effort to bring off savage terrorist attacks against Israelis and the Jewish people in far places.”

The general added: “I advise them not to test our resolve.”
Gantz was referring to the constant Hizballah efforts to avenge the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, the terrorist group’s special security chief, on Feb. 12, 2008 in Damascus, and Iran’s threats following the death of the Iranian nuclear scientist Prof. Mostafa Ahamdi-Roshan on Jan. 11 in Tehran.

Hizballah and Iran both attributed the attacks to Israel.
Our sources can identify the Hizballah terror cell’s Baku chief as an Iranian Azeri by the name of Balaqardash Dadashov and the two local operatives as Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov. Found in their possession were guns and explosives said to have been delivered to them by smugglers from Iran, although DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources say they entered Azerbaijan from Armenia.
The operation leader Balaqardash arrived from Tehran with a file full of photos of the targeted Israeli figures, plans of the buildings to be attacked, and maps as well as $9,300 to cover the costs of the preparations. Each of the terrorists was promised a fee of $150,000.

Iran lingers low on press freedom index

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Iran lingers low on press freedom index

 

Iran ranks near the bottom of the Press Freedom Index for 2011-2012, which was released today by the press rights organization Reporters Without Borders.

“Crackdown was the word of the year in 2011. Never has freedom of information been so closely associated with democracy. Never have journalists, through their reporting, vexed the enemies of freedom so much. Never have acts of censorship and physical attacks on journalists seemed so numerous,” Reporters Without Borders writes. “The equation is simple: the absence or suppression of civil liberties leads necessarily to the suppression of media freedom. Dictatorships fear and ban information, especially when it may undermine them.”

This year Eritrea, Turkmenistan and North Korea are at the bottom of the 179-country list. They are followed by Syria at 176, Iran at 175 and China at 173, three countries that “seem to have lost contact with reality,” the press freedom group reports.

The report drew special attention to the plight of Iranian journalists, saying: “In Iran (175th), hounding and humiliating journalists has been part of officialdom’s political culture for years. The regime feeds on persecution of the media.”

On the other side of the spectrum, RWB reports that Cape Verde and Namibia are now among the top 20 countries on its list, indicating that no attempts to obstruct the media in these two African countries were reported in 2011.

Summons of Dr. Mohammad Maleki to serve a one-year prison term

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Summons of Dr. Mohammad Maleki to serve a one-year prison term

 

January 25, 2012

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) of the summons of Dr. Mohammad Maleki to serve a one-year prison term.

According to the information received, on January 23, 2012, Dr. Mohammad Maleki, founding member of the Iranian Association for the Defence of Liberty and Human Rights (IADLHR), was summoned to Evin prison to serve a one-year prison term (See background information) and was given three days to go to prison. He stands a high risk of arrest at any time.

The Observatory condemns the judicial harassment of Dr. Mohammad Maleki since it seems to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities and expresses its deep concern about the ongoing attempts to hinder the peaceful activities of human rights defenders in Iran.

Background information:

Dr. Maleki spent five years in prison from July 1981 to August 1986 as a result of his strong objection to the closure of universities. He was also arrested on March 12, 2001 and spent more than six months in solitary confinement without trial.

On August 22, 2009, Dr. Mohammad Maleki was again arrested after the presidential election for having boycotted the 2009 presidential election and protesting the post-election abuses and spent more than six months in detention in Evin prison before being released on bail in March 2010. He was then accused of contacts with opposition groups. During his detention, he was hospitalised several times owing to a heart attack and other physical problems including prostate cancer. He was also reportedly denied access to an adequate treatment.

His trial, which was initially scheduled at Branch 28 of the Islamic Revolution Court for July 27, 2011, was then re-scheduled to July 30, 2011 due to the refusal of the accused to attend the trial. Dr Maleki then attended the court, but refused to defend himself and said he would not appeal the sentence, because he considered the court of first instance to be illegal. He had initially faced the charge of “moharebeh” (fighting God), “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamanei” (the incumbent leader) but was finally sentenced on the charge of “propaganda against the system.”

In September 2011, he wrote a brief report to the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran on the tortures he had suffered during his prison terms and was subsequently interrogated and received a notice banning him from travelling abroad.

Actions requested:

Please write to the Iranian authorities and ask them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Dr. Mohammad Maleki as well as that of all human rights defenders and their families in Iran;

ii. Put an end to any kind of harassment – including at the judicial level – against Dr. Mohammad Maleki and more generally against all human rights defenders in Iran.

iii. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly, in particular:

- its article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”;

- its article 5.b, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels, (…) to form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups”;

- its article 12.2 which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

iv. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Iran.

 

Source

Even without Hormuz blockade, Iran has options to keep its enemies on edge

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Even without Hormuz blockade, Iran has options to keep its enemies on edge

 

By REUTERS

LONDON

Under pressure over its nuclear ambitions, Iran might never act on its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz but could retain enough tricks in its playbook to keep its enemies, shippers and global markets on edge.

As Western states tighten sanctions and its enemies wage an apparent covert war against its uranium enrichment program, Tehran has warned several times it may seal off the waterway, choking the supply of Gulf crude and gas.

Few intelligence, military and security experts contacted by Reuters either in or outside government, however, believe that is genuinely likely. Instead, they say, Iran’s leaders will be looking for ways to harass enemies and cause disruption while falling short of triggering a massive U.S.-led retaliation.

Possible Iranian gambits could include harrying tanker traffic in the Gulf with fast attack boats, seizing uninhabited Gulf islands claimed by other states, grabbing hostages from passing civilian or military ships, stoking trouble in Sunni Muslim-ruled

Arab states with restive Shi’ite Muslim communities and orchestrating attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere using militant “proxies” such as Hezbollah.

The risk inherent in all this, however, is that someone on either side miscalculates and triggers a full-blown conflict.

“These scenarios make sense as likely actions falling short of actively blocking the Strait — but they will certainly raise tensions,” says Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island.

“Iran’s goal in raising tensions in the Gulf may be to get other countries to put pressure on the United States to show restraint (and) as a way to create some breathing room for Tehran to maneuver.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard plans more military exercises for February, sending more swarms of gunboats into international waters and showing off its anti-ship missile arsenal.

That in itself could close some areas of the Gulf to shipping, as well is rattling neighbors and shipping firms.

Iran’s 2007 capture of 15 British naval personnel proved hugely embarrassing for London. Tehran may be looking for similar ways success in humbling Western powers without inflicting physical harm.

Already, U.S. and allied naval officers say their vessels are often shadowed by Iranian gunboats, and some worry that if matters escalate further those confrontations could intensify.

“They could easily keep it coming and make it more harassing,” said one Western naval officer with considerable experience in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

“But short of an Iranian small boat actually attacking one of our ships, our responses will be within the letter of the law and non-lethal in nature.”

Heavy Posturing

Beyond the waters of the Gulf, many analysts expect Iran to further raise its support for regional proxies, from militants attacking U.S. forces in Afghanistan to Shi’ite protesters and militants in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

It could add to the growing sense of regional confrontation arising from Iran’s defiance of several U.N. resolutions demanding that it suspend its atomic energy program, seen in the West as a camouflaged bid for nuclear weapons capability, and engage in negotiations with world powers on a solution.

Washington seems keen to stress its resolve and showcase its military strength. This week, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln passed through Hormuz flanked by British and French warships – in open defiance of Tehran’s warning earlier this month that Washington should keep its carriers out of the Gulf.

In reality, naval sources say the move was likely planned months or longer in advance – every time a giant U.S. carrier docks anywhere, dozens of contracts need to be in place for it to be serviced and supplied.

But this time, given the Iranian threat and the heightened tension, the warships’ entry would have been approved at the highest level and deliberately publicized to an unusual degree.

“Both sides are engaged in heavy posturing right now,” said
Reva Bhalla, director of strategic intelligence for U.S.-based consultancy Stratfor. “Iran is focused right now on highlighting its deterrence tools in the Persian Gulf … This, of course, increases the risk of miscalculation.”

Whilst some analysts believe the Islamic Republic may already worry it has overreached itself, others worry that pulling back may become increasingly difficult politically.

The conventional military mismatch between Iran and its enemies remains colossal.

As well as the Abraham Lincoln, the United States routinely retains a second carrier in the Indian Ocean – currently the USS Carl Vinson – within easy striking distance.

Between them, the two battle groups have the capacity to carry well over 120 aircraft, while escort ships will be carrying dozens if not hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles. Then there are U.S. combat aircraft based in the Gulf and Afghanistan, together with other well-equipped local air forces, particularly that of Saudi Arabia, not to mention Israel.

Long-range stealth and other bombers based either in the continental United States or the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia could also hit Iranian targets with virtual impunity.

“Closing Hormuz is a myth. Iran tried to do that for eight years during the (1980s) Iran-Iraq war, and it wasn’t successful even for one hour,” said Mustafa Alani, head of Security and Terrorism Studies at the Gulf Research Center.

“They put mines, hit ships, but traffic through the strait continued. They were hit very hard and learned their lesson when they hit an American ship. The U.S. president ordered the U.S. navy to attack, and two-thirds of the Iranian navy was destroyed in one day. We saw that and we know their limitations,” he said.

“This is why there are clear statements coming from Saudi Arabia and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) saying, indirectly, that they will replace Iran’s oil.”

“Asymmetric warfare” threat

Iran’s functional air force is limited to perhaps as few as a few dozen strike aircraft, either Russian or ageing U.S. models acquired before the 1979 Iranian revolution and for which Tehran has long struggled to find spare parts.

The conventional Iranian Navy (IRIN) is also weak by modern standards. In any war, its corvettes and relatively advanced three Russian-built Kilo diesel electric submarines — the pride of its navy — would almost certainly be destroyed.

Its missile, torpedo and sea mine-equipped mini submarines are also seen as likely to be sunk within days.

More of a worry to Western strategists and shippers are the hardline Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval Forces (IRGCNF) with their focus on “asymmetric warfare” designed to work around Tehran’s conventional military inferiority.

Firing their truck-mounted missiles directly at a warship or commercial vessel would be swiftly judged an act of war and prompt the immediate U.S. destruction of coastal batteries. But hundreds of Iranian small boats – believed to include suicide craft modeled on those once used by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers -would offer more options.

Operating in international waters, they can perform threatening passes of both commercial and military shipping, perhaps even firing warning shots and essentially daring international forces to respond. Individual craft could even conduct damaging and perhaps deniable attacks.

For many — including the insurance companies nervously watching Gulf waters as they determine premiums — the key question is whether such forces are under responsible control.

“Whereas the IRIN (Iran’s mainstream navy) is a conventional military force and likely to be under tight control, the same is not true of the IRGCN,” said John Cochrane, senior global risk forecaster at Exclusive Analysis, a London-based consultancy advising foreign firms in the region, including insurers.

“We assess there is a higher risk of a low-level IRGC small boat commander taking unsanctioned action – or just making a mistake – that would result in an incident in which lethal force was used by one side or the other.”

Many of the commercial ships passing through Hormuz now carry their own often heavily armed private security details to protect against Somali pirates in the wider Indian Ocean.

Already accused of sometimes shooting unnecessarily at fishing boats, some worry that private security units could spark wider confrontation by inadvertently firing the first shots against Iranian forces.

But ultimately, many believe, wiser heads would probably prevail before matters spiraled out of control.

Such action would not be without precedent.

After frigate USS Samuel B Roberts was heavily damaged by an Iranian mine during the so-called “tanker war” in 1988, the U.S. military launched a limited retaliatory strike that wiped out much of Iran’s navy.

But outright war was avoided, as it was again a month later after the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner, killing 290 in what Washington said was a tragic accident.

“I think it’s unlikely to escalate — Iran has too much to lose… and our forces are too professional to let any kind of a localized event blow up into a larger conflict,” said the senior Western naval officer.

“If there is an incident, we will quickly get our forces into our respective corner, establish a defensive posture – albeit ready to go on the offensive if directed… – and wait to see what Iran’s next move on the chessboard will be.”

Brigadier General Ali Fazli

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Brigadier General Ali Fazli

 

Brigadier General Ali Fazli

Iran Briefing : Brigadier General Ali Fazli, son of Kheirollah, was born on April 20, 1961, in the small town of Sarkan located in Hamedan province.

He was the commander of Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigade and Beit al-Moghaddas Operation during the Iran-Iraq war, and played a significant role in the liberation of Khorramshahr, a city located in southern Iran which was occupied by Iraq during the early phase of the war.

Fazli married on 1981 and a year later lost sight on both his eyes when hit with pieces of shrapnel. However, he recovered 70% of his vision on his right eye after medical treatment but his left eye remained blind.

Fazli was the Deputy Commander of the Revolutionary Guard for Operation until 2008 when he was appointed to lead the Tehran division of the Revolutionary Guard. Brigadier General Ali Fazli is now the Deputy Commander of Iran’s Basij Forces.

Fazli is said to have very important secret information about the Iran-Iraq war.

 

Iran Briefing Exclusive

 

Security forces sexually abuse defiant prisoners in prison

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Security forces sexually abuse defiant prisoners in prison

 

According to reports, the physical torture and sexual abuse of prisoners in cellblock 1 in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj is ongoing.

On Monday, January 16, a prisoner identified as Mohsen Marzban, who was transferred to cellblock 1 from cellblock 6, protested the violent treatment of prisoners by prisoner agents in solitary cells. Prison agents then pulled him out of his solitary cell, tied his hands and feet, and violently tortured him with batons while kicking and punching him in front of his horrified inmates. After him, other prisoners identified as Javad Zare, Mehrdad Karimi, Sharbat Khosravi and Morad Ketabi who were transferred from cellblock 3 to cellblock 1 were also violently tortured in this way.

These prison guards were not satisfied with only physical torture and also forced these prisoners to take off their clothes and sexually abused them with batons in front of other prisoners. It is the first time that this method of degradation and sexual abuse has been carried out in front of other prisoners. Of course, this method has been carried out in this way for some time Qezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.

These violent actions and tortures are carried out under the orders of Ali Khadem who is the deputy head of Gohardasht Prison. They are carried out by the deputy and a number of other prison guards but the sexual abuse is personally carried out by Khadem.

Ali Khadem was the head of the Gohardasht Intelligence Unit before this but was demoted after raping a female prison guard who became pregnant. After Mohammad Mardani was appointed as the head of Gohardasht Prison, he appointed Khadem as the deputy of this prison. Ali Khadem who has worked in this prison for the past decades has killed a large number of prisoners under torture. He is also responsible for the smuggling of narcotics into prison and has acquired a lucrative profit in this way. (Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran – Jan. 18, 2012)

Iranian regime arrests 10 Sunni Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan for unknown reasons

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Iranian regime arrests 10 Sunni Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan for unknown reasons

 

A group of Sunni residents of Ahwaz were arrested in the past few days by security forces and were transferred to an unknown location.

According to reports, on the night of January 16, security forces stormed the homes of the Sunni residents of the Kout Abdollah and Akhar Sefalt neighborhoods and arrested 10 Arab Sunnis. (Sunni News website – Jan. 18, 2012)

EU Hits Iran With Oil Ban, Asset Freeze Over Nuclear Effort

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EU Hits Iran With Oil Ban, Asset Freeze Over Nuclear Effort

 

European Union foreign ministers agreed to ban oil imports from Iranstarting July 1 as part of efforts to ratchet up pressure on the Persian Gulf nation’s nuclear program, the 27-nation bloc said in a statement.

The EU will freeze assets in Europe of the Iranian central bank as well as of eight other entities and ban trade in gold, precious metals, diamonds and petrochemical products from Iran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement called the decision “aggressive” and said it will have “negative consequences” in Europe, including higher oil prices.

Among the entities are Bank Tejarat, the last major Iranian bank financing large-volume trade in Europe. Also sanctioned is port company Tidewater, owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which operates about 90 percent of Iran’s container ports, according to U.K Embassy spokesman James Barbour in Washington.

“These EU sanctions will hurt Iran very deeply,” Shada Islam, Middle East and Asia analyst at the Friends of Europe policy group in Brussels, said in an interview. “To be really effective, however, the EU and the U.S. must also try and get key Asian countries, includingChina, on board.”

An Iranian foreign ministry official said the pressure won’t force Iran to change its actions. Sanctions have “proved ineffective in the past and will prove futile in the future,” said Abbas Aragchi, a deputy foreign minister, according to the official state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

The EU said yesterday in Brussels that its actions “target the sources of the finance for the nuclear program, complementing already existing sanctions.”

Asset Freeze

The asset freeze also applies to Sad Export Import Co., a front company involved in arms transfers to Syria, the EU said today in its Official Journal. Other entities subject to restrictions include Darya Delalan Sefid Khazar Shipping Co., which is owned or controlled by Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and Behnam Sahriyari Trading Co., which sent containers of firearms to Syria in May 2007.

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba today called the EU ban “quite drastic” and differs from Japan’s plan to gradually cut purchases of Iranian crude.

New contracts on oil imports from Iran and extensions of existing deals will be banned, the EU said. Shipments under agreements already in place can continue until July 1. The EU measures against Iran also include a ban on the export of equipment and technology for the Iranian petrochemical industry.

Oil Prices

Crude for March delivery was little changed at $99.66 a barrel at 1:37 p.m. Tokyo time, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract earlier increased as much as 0.4 percent to $99.98.

The Iranian Navy didn’t harass the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier, as it went through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf on Jan. 22, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby told reporters yesterday. The Lincoln replaced the USS John Stennis, which left the area on Dec. 27.

“HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a U.S. carrier group transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under international law,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an e-mailed statement fromLondon.

The acting commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Brigadier-General Hossein Salami, said Jan. 21 the U.S. Navy has deployed warships in the region “for a long time” and the current situation “is not new,” according to IRNA.

Less Confrontational

His remarks were less confrontational than those of Mohammad Kowsari, deputy head of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy commission, who was cited by the state-run Fars news agency as saying Iran will “certainly close the Strait of Hormuz” if sanctions “interrupt” its oil exports. About 20 percent of globally traded oil transits the Persian Gulfpassageway.

“We can keep the Strait of Hormuz open and we will do what is necessary to achieve that,” Ivo Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said in a BBC Radio 4 interview yesterday.

The U.S. and EU say Iran’s nuclear-development plans are aimed at gaining atomic weapons capability. The Islamic republic, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, is already under four rounds of UN sanctions and says its nuclear program is for civilian energy and medical purposes.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday it will send inspectors to Iran Jan. 29 to Jan. 31 in an effort to resolve questions raised by its nuclear activities.

‘Failed’

“The Iranian leadership has failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program,” said U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a joint statement. “We will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

In Washington, President Barack Obama welcomed the EU move as demonstrating “once more the unity of the international community in addressing the serious threat presented by Iran’s nuclear program.”

The U.S. “will continue to increase the pressure unless Iran acts to change course and comply with its international obligations,” he said in a written statement.

While the EU decision yesterday will be binding on member states, a separate regulation is needed for it to become binding on companies. The European Commission, the EU’s regulatory arm, is expected to offer a draft rule on that matter within days, according to an EU diplomat.

Mediterranean Stance

Mediterranean countries that import much of their crude from Iran, such as Greece, Spain andItaly, had argued for sanctions to be phased in over as much as a year. Both Spain and Italy get 13 percent of their crude imports from Iran, according to the U.S.’s Energy Information Administration.

The U.K. and Germany, which have also sought swifter sanctions, get only 1 percent of their oil imports from the Islamic republic, while France gets 4 percent.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters in Brussels yesterday that Saudi Arabian officials told him they will make up for supply shortfalls.

In addition to the four sets of UN sanctions, Iran is under other U.S. and EU restrictions.

Oil sales earned Iran $73 billion in 2010 and supplied more than 50 percent of the national budget and 80 percent of exports, according to the U.S. Energy Department and theInternational Monetary Fund. Iran produced 3.58 million barrels of crude a day in December, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s about 4 percent of global oil consumption.

The EU imported 14.5 billion euros ($18.9 billion) of goods from Iran, 90 percent of which was oil and related products, in 2010 and exported goods to the country worth 11.3 billion euros, the EU said in a Jan. 20 statement.

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