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Britain caught lending $668 million to Iran
THE British Government faces a diplomatic row with the US over disclosures that it has provided the Iranian regime with financial support worth about pound stg. 290 million ($668 million) while calling for sanctions. It has provided the Iranian regime with financial support worth about pound stg. 290 million ($668 million) while calling for sanctions.The money was offered by the Export Credits Guarantee Department to support British firms exporting to Iran, mainly to the country's petrochemical industry. Many of the loans were negotiated while British ministers were threatening sanctions against Iran for creating a nuclear enrichment facility. Last week, Gordon Brown called for new sanctions against Iran in addition to those already imposed by the UN Security Council. The British Prime Minister wants a ban on investment in the oil and gas industries if Iran does not agree to end the production of enriched uranium. Over the weekend, government sources signalled their embarrassment over the ECGD's activities. "There is clearly a gap between our actions and our rhetoric," a Whitehall insider said. The US administration has been privately lobbying Britain to end the financial support. Stuart Levey, the US Treasury official responsible for terrorism and financial intelligence, stepped up the pressure in private discussions with British ministers in London in July, claiming that such export credits were inconsistent with UN sanctions. The Government is also under pressure at home. The Conservative Party's foreign affairs spokesman, William Hague, said: "Our Government must make up its mind about export credit guarantees to Iran. Britain should lead the way with a clear, unequivocal commitment to banning new export credit guarantees to Iran."
The ECGD underwrites bank loans to enable overseas buyers to purchase goods, often including military hardware, from British companies. It stopped providing support for Iran in 1994 but resumed in 2000. Much of the support was for the National Iranian Oil Company and a subsidiary, the National Petrochemical Company. The decision to start pushing hard for new business came in 2003, the year of the second Iraq war. It coincided with a declaration by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran had been secretly constructing a nuclear enrichment plant. The same year, however, the ECGD announced a pound stg. 72 million deal for a plastics plant in Iran. It then sent John Weiss, its business group director, to Iran to drum up more business. Mr Weiss said then: "The petrochemical sector in Iran is a key target for the ECGD, but we are also keen to look at sectors including oil, gas, transport, power, water and telecommunications." Such optimism contrasted with warnings throughout 2003 from then prime minister Tony Blair that Iran should halt its nuclear ventures. He also accused it of supporting terrorist groups attacking British troops in Iraq. Posted by: lotp 2007-11-19 |
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