Iranian Nuclear Program

"Landep News"

Iranian Nuclear Program

Russia on Tuesday criticized the new sanctions imposed on Iran as a result of the report made by the International Atomic Energy Agency by which the Islamic republic was being accused of having developed a military aspect of the nuclear program. The United States, Canada, Britain and France announced on Monday supplemental sanctions on Tehran.
Thus, the United States announced new sanctions on Iranian oil and petrochemical industries and on any companies involved in nuclear procurement and enrichment. America did not sanction the Iranian central bank but catalogued the banking system as a center for money laundering.
A sanction imposed on the central bank would have determined Iran’s partners to choose between Iran and the United States. The United States is also preoccupied that imposing sanctions on the central bank would lead to a raise of the oil prices, which would hurt the American economy.
France recommended through its president Nicolas Sarkozy to the world leaders that they freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank. Canada and the United Kingdom cut off ties with Iranian banks.
On Tuesday, the Iranian foreign minister said that the new sanctions on his country were no more than attempts of propaganda and psychological warfare, adding that the measures would have no effect on Iranian economy.
The Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said these new sanctions were a violation of international law and an obstacle in the way of dialogue with Tehran.
These sanctions follow four rounds of UN sanctions and US and European sanctions. The sanctions could not be imposed through the Security Council, because Russia and China had already threatened to veto such an initiative.
The new round of sanctions will limit Iran’s capacity to refine gasoline, invest in the petroleum industry, and access foreign capital and lines of credits. The most important sanction however is the labeling of the Iranian banking system as “money laundering,” which sends out a strong signal to all investors in Iran that doing business with Iran is risky.
Then, Iran will have a problem doing business as a result of the fact that it was barred from the international hub in London.
The sanctions are intended as a means to slow down the Iranian nuclear program, which is supposed to be able to produce nuclear weapons in a few months. Israeli intelligence said that the Islamic country will complete a first bomb by April.
American sources say that the Iranian nuclear program is already suffering from money shortage, which triggers a technology shortage. The sanctions target the main two sources of revenue for Iran. Iran says that the sanctions have never hindered their program.
In spite of the opposition to the sanctions against Iran, Russia joined the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom in saying that creating a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East should not be discussed without a progress on peace in the region.
Dozens of representatives of states in the Middle East and the international community gathered in Vienna to discuss the idea of imposing a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, as another means to avert the acquiring of nuclear weapons by Iran.
This vision collides with the one of the Arab states, which accuse Israel of having an undeclared nuclear arsenal, which is considered a big threat to the entire Middle East.
The first meeting of the IAEA on Monday was considered “less confrontational, less hostile.” Iran boycotted the meeting, leaving Syria the most vocal accuser of Israel’s nuclear program.
Israel restated its position on the idea of denuclearized Middle East, saying that such a discussion could be held only after the recognition of Israel by every Arab state, the making of peace and security arrangements. Only then an arrangement on nuclear, bio-chemical weapons can be made.

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