EDITOR: Countdown to war
This is a new phenomenon – a US President who is a holder of the Peace Nobel Prize, intensifying one war, in Afghanistan, and about to start another, in Iran. Will he get another Nobel Peace Prize for the new war? Surely, recognition of his achievement is in order? Even those of us nor enamoured with the Teheran regime, can see the bating which the western powers are involved in on behalf of Israel. How could this NOT lead to a destructive war?
Iran steps up threats to close Strait of Hormuz after EU imposes oil embargo: Haaretz
Warning comes as EU nations agree in Brussels on sanctions over the country’s controversial nuclear program; Netanyahu says embargo is ‘step in the right direction.’
By The Associated Press and DPA
Two Iranian lawmakers on Monday stepped up threats their country would close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude flows, in retaliation for oil sanctions on Tehran.
The warnings came as EU nations agreed in Brussels on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over the country’s controversial nuclear program. The measure includes an immediate embargo on new contracts for Iranian crude and petroleum products while existing ones will be allowed to run until July.
Iran has repeatedly warned it would choke off the strait if sanctions affect its oil sales, and two lawmakers ratcheted up the rhetoric on Monday.
Lawmaker Mohammad Ismail Kowsari, deputy head of Iran’s influential committee on national security, said the strait “would definitely be closed if the sale of Iranian oil is violated in any way.”
Kowsari claimed that in case of the strait’s closure, the U.S. and its allies would not be able to reopen the route, and warned America not to attempt any “military adventurism.”
Another senior lawmaker, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, said Iran has the right to shutter Hormuz in retaliation for oil sanctions and that the closure was increasingly probable, according to the semiofficial Mehr news agency.
“In case of threat, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is one of Iran’s rights,” Falahatpisheh said. “So far, Iran has not used this privilege.”
Monday’s EU measure also includes a freeze on the assets of Iran’s central bank as part of sanctions meant to pressure Tehran to resume talks on its uranium enrichment, a process that can lead to making nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the decision, calling it “a step in the right direction.”
According to Netanyahu, who spoke at an afternoon Likud faction meeting, it is still too early to predict the outcome of the sanctions, but he emphasized the importance of continual pressure on Iran in light of “its continual, uninterrupted development of nuclear weapons.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Monday called for other countries to join the European Union in its boycott of Iranian oil. China imports a lion share of Tehran’s crude. Other major importers include India, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Turkey.
“Oil embargo is a word easily said,” Westerwelle told reporters after a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels. “But if the message to the Iranian leadership is to be clear, then it needs more than just a Western voice. It needs an international voice.”
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was critical on Monday of planned new European Union sanctions against Iran, saying they would push Tehran away from the negotiating table and do little to increase regional security.
“These unilateral steps are not helpful,” Lavrov said at a press conference in the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi, the Interfax news agency reported.
For its part, the United States has enacted, but not yet put into force, sanctions targeting Iran’s central bank and, by extension, the country’s ability to be paid for its oil.
Some 80 percent of Iran’s oil revenue comes from exports and any measures or sanctions taken that affect its ability to export oil could hit hard at its economy. With about 4 million barrels per day, Iran is the second largest producer in OPEC.
Reflecting the uncertainties, on Monday the Iranian currency, the rial, fell to a new low, trading at nearly 21,000 to the dollar, a five percent drop since Saturday and 14 percent since Friday, currency dealers said. A year ago the rial was trading at 10,500 to the dollar.
Tensions over the strait and the potential impact on global oil supplies and also the price of crude have weighed heavily on consumers and traders. Both the U.S.¬ and Britain have warned Iran over any disruption to the world’s oil supply through the strait.
Another Iranian lawmaker, Ali Adyani, sought to downplay the latest EU move, describing it as a “mere propaganda gesture,” according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.
Former intelligence minister, Ali Falahaian, suggested Iran should stop all its crude exports “so that oil prices would go up and the Europeans’ sanctions would collapse.”
Threats to close the strait escalated during Iran’s naval exercises in the Persian Gulf in January. Iran plans more naval war games in February.
Iran: EU oil sanctions ‘unfair’ and ‘doomed to fail’: BBC
Catherine Ashton: “There is no question that if Iran responds positively the sanctions can eventually be lifted”
Iran has said an oil embargo adopted by European Union foreign ministers over the country’s nuclear programme is “unfair” and “doomed to fail”.
The measures would not prevent Iran’s “progress for achieving its basic rights”, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
The sanctions ban all new oil contracts with Iran and freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank in the EU.
The EU currently buys about 20% of Iran’s oil exports.
“European officials and other countries which are under America’s political pressure… should consider their national interests and not deprive themselves of Iran’s oil to help US officials achieve their secret aims,” Mr Mehmanparast added.
He accused the US of trying to create “problems with energy supply requirements in countries which are America’s economic rivals”.
US President Barack Obama has welcomed the EU sanctions, saying they show international unity against the “serious threat” posed by Iran’s nuclear programme.
So once the new measures are in place, how successful will they be? Even Western diplomats are uncertain.
There is no doubting that the Iranian economy will suffer. But the nuclear programme is a matter of national pride and ultimately national security.
Iran has seen the demise of regimes in Iraq and Libya and noted the survival of that in North Korea – the one so-called “rogue state” that has nuclear weapons.
Iran’s rulers may well believe that having at least the potential for a nuclear bomb is something that could secure the country against outside threat.
Seen in this light one can imagine the Iranian authorities being willing to absorb considerable economic pain to pursue their nuclear research effort.
Impact of EU ban on Iranian oil
The sanctions were formally adopted at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
Iran had “failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme”, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement.
“We will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran has so far had no regard for its international obligations and is already exporting and threatening violence around its region,” the leaders added.
The measures were “another strong step in the international effort to dramatically increase the pressure on Iran”, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has confirmed it is sending a team to Iran between 29 and 31 January “to resolve all outstanding substantive issues”.
Last November the IAEA said in a report that it had information suggesting Iran had carried out tests “relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for energy purposes.
Earlier on Monday, the Pentagon said the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, as well as a British Royal Navy frigate and a French warship, had passed through the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf without incident, following Iranian threats to block the trade route.
Russian opposition
The EU said the sanctions prohibit the import, purchase and transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products as well as related finance and insurance. All existing contracts will have to be phased out by 1 July.
Investment as well as the export of key equipment and technology for Iran’s petrochemical sector is also banned.
EU approves tough oil embargo on Iran: Al Jazeera English
Sanctions to ban new contracts between bloc’s 27 member states and Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear programme.
Members of the European Union have adopted an embargo on Iranian oil as part of sanctions over the country’s disputed nuclear programme.
The EU sanctions, which were approved at a meeting in Brussels on Monday, follow financial punishments signed into law by the US on December 31 last year, and mainly target the oil sector, which accounts for some 90 per cent of Iranian exports to the EU.
The oil ban, along with sanctions against Iran’s central bank and other measures, came as Western powers stepped up pressure on Iran to return to negotiations amid concerns that it is moving closer to building nuclear weapons.
Iran denounced the EU measures, saying that the decision was “unfair” and “doomed to fail”.
“The method of threat, pressure and unfair sanctions against a nation that has a strong reason for its approach is doomed to fail,” Ramin Mehmanparast, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, told the state broadcaster.
For its part, the US said the EU sanctions were consistent with steps it had taken against Iran.
It also announced new sanctions against Iran’s third largest state-owned ban, Bank Tejarat, and the Trade Capital Bank, an affiliate. Both are still accessing the international financial system.
‘Another strong step’
Timothy Geithner and Hillary Clinton, respectively the US treasury secretary and the secretary of state, said in a joint statement that the moves from Europe were “another strong step in the international effort to dramatically increase the pressure on Iran”.
Under Monday’s embargo decision, all new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products between Iran and any of the EU’s 27 member states, will be forbidden. Existing contracts have to be suspended by June-end.
”]
There will be a review of the embargo on May 1, a month before all oil contracts cease.
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also confirmed on Monday that a high-level visit to Iran would take place from January 29-31 for talks on Tehran’s nuclear activities.
Describing the EU measures as part of “an unprecedented set of sanctions”, William Hague, the British foreign minister, said: “Today’s sanctions show how serious EU member states are about preventing nuclear proliferation and pressing Iran to return to the negotiating table,” he said.
The meeting in Brussels came after French and British warships joined a US carrier aircraft group on Sunday and passed through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage between Iran and Oman, which Iran has threatened to close in retaliation to tightening sanctions, thus imperilling much of the world’s oil supply.
The manoeuvre was meant “to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage
under international law”, a spokesman for the UK defence ministry said.
Western countries believe Iran’s uranium enrichment programme is part of an effort to build a nuclear bomb, but Iran says the programme is to generate electricity.
A member of Catherine Ashton’s office, the EU’s high representative of foreign policy, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the decision to go ahead with sanctions was ratified by all 27 member states.
Joint statement
France, Britain and Germany said, just hours after the decision on Monday, that they were willing to negotiate with Iran if it was ready to talk seriously about its nuclear programme.
“We call on Iran’s leadership immediately to suspend its sensitive nuclear activities and abide fully by its international obligations,” the three countries said in a joint statement by their leaders.
Nick Spicer reports on the meeting from Brussels
Calling on Iran to engage in “serious” and “meaningful” negotiations about its nuclear programme, they said in the statement: “Until Iran comes to the table, we will be united behind strong measures to undermine the regime’s ability to fund its nuclear programme.”
Issues of concern before Monday’s meeting included the impact and costs of the ban for countries like Greece, which relies on financial help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund to stay afloat, and received Iranian crude on preferential financing terms.
With a significant part of EU purchases of Iranian oil covered by long-term contracts, a grace period was an important factor in the efficiency of EU measures.
Al Jazeera’s Nick Spicer, reporting from the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels, said: “There will be a review of sanctions in three months, in May, to see how things are going and then the embargo will begin in full force on July 1.
“The reason for that is so that countries heavily dependent on Iranian oil, namely Greece, Italy and Spain, some of the most ailing members of the eurozone, can find new sources of supply, and secondly, to see what steps Iran is taking to come back to the negotiating table.”
Diplomatic push
In addition to the oil embargo, the EU measures are also expected to include sanctions against the Iranian central bank and a ban on trading in gold with the government, diplomats said.
A diplomatic push is under way, officials say, to secure supplies from other producers. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top producer, said this month it would increase production by about two million barrels per day.
Dorsa Jabbari reports on concern on Tehran’s streets
The effort to take Iran’s 2.6 million barrels of oil per day off international markets has kept global prices high, pushed down Iran’s rial currency and is causing a surge in the cost of basic goods for Iranians.
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said the Iranian government believes that the EU sanctions will not really affect their oil revenues.
The Iranian government believes that the embargo will increase oil prices and, hence, will make up for the loss in revenue, our correspondent said.
Our correspondent said the impact of the sanctions would be felt by ordinary Iranians as it will increase the price of the US dollar vis-a-vis the Iranian rial, she said, noting that the dollar rose by about 10 cents following the EU sanctions announcement on Monday.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor of political science at Tehran University, said that EU sanctions would not “terribly affect” Iran.
“The real problem for Iran comes [from] Asia and not from Europe,” Zibakalam said. “That is to say if China, South Korea, Japan … and India move towards … reducing their oil from Iran, that will create a serious problem for Iran.”
The four Asian nations purchase about 59 per cent of Iran’s oil each year, while EU countries account for 18 per cent.
Factbox: EU sanctions against Iran: Ahram Online
Outline of EU sanctions against Iran, announced on Monday, include bans on transport and imports
Reuters , Monday 23 Jan 2012
Monday’s sanctions imposed on Iran by the EU include a ban on the transport, purchase and import into Europe of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products and related finance and insurance. Contracts already concluded can be executed until 1 July and the measures will be reviewed before 1 May.
The sanctions also ban the export of key technology for the energy sector and new investment in Iranian petrochemical firms and joint ventures with these companies.
The EU also froze the assets of the Iran’s central bank in the European Union and banned trade in gold, precious metals and diamonds with Iranian public bodies and the central bank.
In addition, the sanctions bar the sale to Iran of more “sensitive dual use” goods – those that can have a military or security application – and add three people to a list of those targeted by asset freezes and visa bans and freeze the assets of eight more entities.
Details of the sanctions will be published in the EU’s Official Journal on Tuesday.
The EU has gradually imposed sanctions on Iran since 2007 as part of Western efforts to put pressure on Tehran over its nuclear work. Sanctions include those agreed by the United Nations and autonomous EU measures. Current EU sanctions include:
– Trade ban on arms and equipment that can be used for repression, and a ban on goods and technology related to nuclear enrichment or nuclear weapons systems, including nuclear materials and facilities, certain chemicals, electronics, sensors and lasers, navigation and avionics;
– Ban on investment by Iranian nationals and entities in uranium mining and production of nuclear material and technology within the EU;
– Ban on trade in dual-use goods and technology, for instance telecommunication systems and equipment; information security systems and equipment; nuclear technology and low-enriched uranium;
– Export ban on key equipment and technology for the oil and gas industries (i.e. exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining and liquefaction of natural gas). Ban on financial and technical assistance for such transactions. This includes geophysical survey equipment, drilling and production platforms for crude oil and natural gas, equipment for shipping terminals of liquefied gas, petrol pumps and storage tanks;
– Ban on investment in the Iranian oil and gas industries (exploration and production of oil and gas, refining and liquefaction of natural gas). This means no credits, loans, new investment in and joint ventures with such companies in Iran;
– Ban on new medium- or long-term commitments by EU member states to financial support for trade with Iran. Restraint on short-term commitments;
– EU governments are banned from extending grants and concessional loans to the Iranian government. Provision of insurance and re-insurance to the Iranian government and Iranian entities (except health and travel insurance) is banned;
– EU financial institutions must report to national authorities any transactions with Iranian banks they suspect concern proliferation of financing; banks must notify transfers above 10,000 euros to national authorities and request prior authorisation for transactions above 40,000 euros (with humanitarian exemptions);
– Iranian banks are banned from opening branches and creating joint ventures in the EU; EU financial institutions are banned from opening branches or bank accounts in Iran;
– Ban on the issuance of and trade in Iranian government or public bonds with the Iranian government, central bank and Iranian banks;
– EU governments must require their nationals to exercise vigilance over business with entities incorporated in Iran, including those of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines;
– National customs authorities must require prior information about all cargo to and from Iran. Such cargo can be inspected to ensure trade restrictions are respected;
– Cargo flights operated by Iranian carriers or coming from Iran may not have access to EU airports (except mixed passenger and cargo flights). No maintenance services to Iranian cargo aircraft or servicing to Iranian vessels may be provided if there are suspicions that they carry prohibited goods;
– Visa bans are imposed on persons designated by the UN or associated with or providing support for Iran’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems, and on senior members of the IRGC; as of 22 January, visa bans and asset freezes apply to 113 persons (41 designated by the UN and the rest by the EU);
– Asset freeze on 433 entities associated with Iran’s proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems; and senior members and entities of IRGC and the IRISL (UN designations cover 75 entities); these entities include: companies in banking and insurance sectors, the nuclear technology industry and in the field of aviation, armament, electronics, shipping, chemical industry, metallurgy, the oil and gas industry, and branches and subsidiaries of IRGC and IRISL.
In addition to the nuclear track, the EU has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 61 Iranians seen as responsible for human rights violations.
Human Rights Watch reports ‘serious violations’ in Israel, Palestinian territories: Haaretz
Annual report lists Israel’s blockade of Gaza Strip, settlement expansion in West Bank, and home demolitions in East Jerusalem; report also accuses Hamas for carrying out judicial executions and for allegedly torturing detainees.
Serious violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories were ongoing in 2011, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Sunday.
It listed Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank and home demolitions in East Jerusalem.
But it also noted Palestinian rocket and mortar fire from Gaza at southern Israeli population centers.
And it condemned Hamas, the radical Islamist movement ruling Gaza, for carrying out three judicial executions, and for allegedly torturing scores of Palestinian detainees, some of whom died.
The Palestinian Authority was criticized for its part in arbitrarily detaining hundreds of Hamas supporters.
Israel has eased the entry of goods into Gaza, but continued to block exports, hindering the rebuilding of the coastal enclave’s devastated economy. Construction materials are still barred because Israel says they can be used by militants and Gaza still had an estimated shortage of some 250 schools and 100,000 homes.
In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel had demolished (by November 1) some 467 Palestinian homes and other buildings, displacing 869 people, the highest number in five years, the report said.
“Israel usually carries out demolitions on the grounds that the structures were built without permits, but in practice such permits are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Israeli-controlled areas,” read the report.
The report also sharply criticized Israel for detaining 164 Palestinian minors. It also mentioned settler violence and vandalism and what it said was lack of action by Israeli authorities against it. The United Nations reported 377 attacks by settlers last year that damaged Palestinian property, including almost 10,000 olive trees.
The report also mentioned new legislation passed by the Israeli parliament, including one law making “calls for boycotts of Israeli settlements” as a civil offense, and another which “penalizes cultural, academic, or other institutions or municipalities that commemorate the Nakba (catastrophe)” – the Palestinian term for the dispersal of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as refugees in the 1948-49 war that broke out after Israel was established.
Israel Police arrest Hamas lawmakers in East Jerusalem compound: Haaretz
Khaled Abu Rafah and Mohammed Totah sought refuge from Israeli arrest in a Red Cross compound in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in July 2010.
Jerusalem Police arrested two Hamas lawmakers on Monday who had been hiding for over a year in an East Jerusalem Red Cross compound.
The two men, Khaled Abu Rafah, and Mohammed Totah sought refuge from Israeli arrest in the compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem in July 2010. The men’s identity cards were previously confiscated by the Israeli government.Atun
It must be noted that the Red Cross compound does not provide diplomatic immunity.
Police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said the men were wanted for “Hamas activities,” but would not elaborate.
Israel, the U.S., EU and Israel list Hamas as a terror group due to its suicide bombings and other attacks aimed at civilians that have killed hundreds of Israelis.
Israel bans Hamas from operating in Jerusalem. Last week Israel arrested the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament.
Rosenfeld said the Hamas men were arrested when they ventured outside the Red Cross compound Monday.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri confirmed they were hiding at the Red Cross for a year and a half. “This is a Zionist crime,” he said. “Their abduction is a violation of their rights.”
Hamas lawmakers have taken refuge at the Red Cross compound before. Last September Israeli police arrested Ahmed Atoun, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Atoun’s arrest was accomplished by having two undercover border policemen pose as Arab drivers and stage a fight outside the Red Cross compound. When Atoun left the compound to see what was happening, police nabbed him.
The men were Hamas lawmakers in the Palestinian parliament, which has not functioned since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the Palestinian Fatah Party of President Mahmoud Abbas.
They were among four Hamas officials Israel arrested in 2006 after an Israeli soldier was abducted by Gaza militants allied to the militant Islamic group.
The most prominent of the four East Jerusalem fugitives, Muhammad Abu Tir, was among some 40 Hamas PLC members arrested by Israel in retaliation for the June 2006 capture of soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas.
Following Abu Tir’s release from jail in June 2010, the Shin Bet security service decided to deport him and his three East Jerusalem colleagues – Atoun, Khaled Abu Arafa and Mohammed Totah. They were given one month to leave the city voluntarily.
When they refused, police arrested Abu Tir and deported him to Ramallah. But the other three sought refuge in the Red Cross compound in East Jerusalem, where they set up a protest tent and received a constant stream of visitors.
After spending time in jail, they were ordered to leave Jerusalem but hid at the Red Cross instead to avoid expulsion.
“Hamas forcing itself on the Red Cross is not new,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. “It raises serious questions about the abuse by Hamas of Red Cross neutrality and about the impotence of the Red Cross to counter such abuse.”
In July last year, Israel sought clarifications from the Red Cross following a demonstration outside the organization’s Gaza headquarters for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, including many involved in deadly attacks. Israel charged that the Red Cross helped organize the event and said such activities compromise its neutrality.