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US planning to tighten net around Iran
 The Bush administration is pressing Europe and Japan to impose wide-ranging sanctions designed to stifle the Iranian leadership financially if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve an impasse over the country's nuclear programme, the Washington Post reported on Monday.The newspaper, quoting internal government memos and interviews with three involved officials, said the scheme was developed by a Treasury Department task force that reports directly to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The plan is designed to curtail the financial freedom of every Iranian official, individual and entity the Bush administration considers connected not only to nuclear enrichment efforts but to terrorism, government corruption, suppression of religious or democratic freedom, and violence in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories. It would restrict the Tehran government's access to foreign currency and global markets, shut its overseas accounts and freeze assets held in Europe and Asia, the report added. Posted by: Fred 2006-05-30 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=154212 |