UN Hits Iran with More Sanctions for Nuke Program

This afternoon, the UN Security Council voted to increase sanctions on Iran for its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. It was 12-2 with one abstention. President Obama said that the vote sent an "unmistakable message" to the theocrats in Tehran. Meanwhile, his counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the sanctions should be tossed into the bin like a "used handkerchief." The truth is the message is unmistakable, and the Iranian government will toss the message in the bin.

Voting for the sanctions were the five permanent members (China, France, Russia, UK, and US, each of whom has a veto) and seven non-permanent members (Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, and Uganda). Turkey and Brazil, who have been flexing their diplomatic muscles of late trying to broker a deal with Iran, voted "no." This keeps their channels to Tehran open. At the same time, Lebanon abstained. Beirut's government includes Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran. Quite what this means is hard to say, but it can't be all bad.

This is the fourth round of sanctions the UNSC has approved, so the world community is passed the easy targets for sanctions. This time around there is the usual companies that are fronts for the Revolutionary Guards, and various shipping firms that are really subsidiaries of the sanctioned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. Also, Javad Rahiqi has been banned from international travel and his overseas assets are frozen. He is the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran's Nuclear Technology Centre in Isfahan. Malek Ashtar University is sanctioned because it is an elemental part of Iran's nuclear program. And First East Export Bank based in Malaysia is sanctioned for being the banker handling millions of dollars worth of transactions for Iranian "nuclear, missile, and defense entities." One of the few effective sanctions included in this list is the right of other nations to board and search ships and interdict planes headed to or leaving Iran.

What is missing from this list is action on Iran's oil and gas industry. Cutting off the export of oil would have put genuine pressure on the theocrats, ending the flow of cash into their pockets. Halting the importation of gasoline and other petroleum distillates (Iran is short of refining capacity) would increase pressure on the Iranian economy. However, China and Russia have huge interests in Iran's energy sector. This was probably as tight as things could be made.

And so, these sanctions were at best a message. Iran, though, will continue to enrich uranium to weapons-grade concentrations. Under international law, it has the right to pursue "peaceful atomic power," and fuel rods require U235 at 20%. A nice efficient weapon requires U235 at 90%, but once one can make rods, one can make bombs just by running the centrifuges longer. The march of nuclear folly continues.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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