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Obama targets Iran 'Guards' with new sanctions
White House officials say President Barack Obama seeks to take advantage of unrest in Iran and target the country's army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) with sanctions to pressure the country into abandoning its nuclear program, The New York Times reported Saturday. In an interview with the paper, officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Obama administration believes that the current state of affairs in Iran, as it struggles with post-election chaos -- which it says is instigated by Western countries -- make the country extremely vulnerable to "strong and immediate new sanctions." The United States, under the rule of former president George W. Bush, accused the Islamic Republic of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear pursuit. After imposing unilateral sanctions against the country, it rallied its European allies -- Britain, France and Germany -- to coerce the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) into pressuring Tehran to desert its program. The UNSC adopted three rounds of sanctions resolutions against Tehran, urging the government to halt its uranium enrichment activities. Iran, a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and member of the UN nuclear watchdog, is entitled to pursue the technology for civilian purposes. To further clarify its intentions, it has also urged nuclear powers to abandon their atomic arsenals as the government in Iran believes the use of weapons of mass destruction is inhuman. It is noteworthy that the use of such weaponry is forbidden by the rules of Shia Islam -- the official religion of the people and government in Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has comprehensively monitored Iran's activities for years, says there is no evidence for the Western allegations. The body, however, has asked Iran to expand its cooperation to answer remaining questions about the case. Nonetheless, the US, even with the leadership of President Obama, remains certain that Iran should not be allowed to develop its nuclear work. His top advisers said they no longer value the key finding of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) about Iran which said with 'high confidence' that the country was not working on designing a nuclear warhead -- the key step in making an atomic bomb. Instead, they all advocate sanctions as a means of diplomacy. "The White House wants to focus the new sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC], the military force believed to run the nuclear weapons effort," wrote The New York Times. In defense of the move, the paper quoted as saying an administration official involved with Iran policy that repeated rounds of sanctions may not have had a major effect on the country, but the new sanctions aim to convey a message to the people of Iran. The hope is that, the official said, the current troubles "give us a window to impose the first sanctions that may make the Iranians think the nuclear program isn't worth the price tag," the Times reported. But in reality, with the long discussed sanctions, the White House plans two messages. The first one is to pressure the Tehran government as it deems that the leaders in Iran are pre-occupied with the unrest and their focus are turned away from the nuclear program. The second message is aimed at the opposition and its supporters as well as anti-Islamic Republic elements inside the country. Washington wants to tell them that it is targeting the IRGC for its role in maintaining order in post-election events. This will negate its official stance that the White House is not interfering in Iran's internal affairs. Despite the two strong messages, the Obama administration will also appease Tel Aviv as well as the neocons and Israeli lobbies in the US, who have long strived to find excuses to drive the US war machine into a third front against the Islamic Republic. A senior Israeli diplomat in Washington told The New York Times that President "Obama has convinced us that it's worth trying the sanctions, at least for a few months." What President Obama should remember, however, is that the imposition of new sanctions will undoubtedly shadow nuclear talks with Tehran, which entered a new phase in August when under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran and the P 5+1 -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the five veto wielding members of the UNSC, plus Germany -- discussed the exchange of Iran's nuclear fuel for refined supply that would be used in a research reactor in Tehran. With new sanctions, President Obama will also miss the opportunity to engage Iran directly, and the chance to end three decades of hostility which would be created if the long disputed nuclear case is resolved. Posted by: Fred 2010-01-04 |
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