۱۳۹۰ آذر ۹, چهارشنبه
۱۳۹۰ آذر ۷, دوشنبه
۱۳۹۰ آذر ۶, یکشنبه
We're at the end of the road of diplomacy with Iran
(Washington) – A leading U.S. senator in charge of efforts to target Iranian economy suggested the sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s Central Bank will be a major step to avoid of a military conflict.
Iran and the West are at odds over the Islamic state’s nuclear ambitions. The United States and its European allies have imposed additional sanctions on the clerical regime after the United Nations Security Council passed four rounds of sanctions on Iran.
“If we do not sanction the Central Bank of Iran, then we make conflict between Iran and Israel very likely,” Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) said in an interview with the Voice of America’s Persian News Network when asked whether the West is reaching the end of the road of diplomacy with Iran.
Washington named Iran last week as an area of "primary money laundering concern," a move to deter non-American banks from dealing with the Iranian banks under section 311 of the “USA Patriot Act,” and also expanded sanctions to target companies that aid its oil and petrochemical industries as well as blacklisting more people involved in its nuclear work.
The Republican senator from Illinois said he is committed to diplomatic efforts as a senator, but warned that “if we not do the sanction, I would basically expect then military action, and then we would be working as a senator to support U.S. allies in the region.”
The West has long been insisting on a diplomatic solution to clear its concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but they, as well as Iran’s regional arch-foe Israel, have refused so far to rule out a military action on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Analysts believe a military strike on the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter causes further tensions in the Middle East and in the world’s energy market as Iran has warned that it will respond to any attacks by hitting Israel and U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf.
Director of research at The Washington Institute Patrick Clawson, in remarks broadcast at the same show explaining why Iran’s Central bank has not been designated as a target for the U.S. sanctions, said Washington concerns of not having full cooperation of the world at the current stage.
“We don’t want to target the Central Bank unless we get quite certain that we are going to have cooperation from countries like China,” Clawson, who directs the Iran Security Initiative, said adding that all that’s going on in the world of economy like the European debt crisis strengthened the U.S. concerns.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Wednesday that Beijing opposes any unilateral sanctions against Iran and said “We believe pressure and sanctions will not fundamentally solve the Iranian issue, but will complicate the issue.”
“What in fact the U.S. is showing is that actually there is lots of ways that Unites States can turn up the pressure on Iran. And that remains true, there’s many more that U.S. could do,” Clawson said.
He further predicted that Iran will agree to resume negotiations with the world powers within a few months “as a confidence building measure.”
۱۳۹۰ آذر ۳, پنجشنبه
۱۳۹۰ آذر ۲, چهارشنبه
۱۳۹۰ آذر ۱, سهشنبه
۱۳۹۰ آبان ۳۰, دوشنبه
۱۳۹۰ آبان ۲۹, یکشنبه
"Germany needs to limit ties with Iran"
By Siamak Dehghanpour and Babak Gorji
Voice of America, PNN
Nov 20 (Washington) – The German vice-chairperson of a Delegation at the European Parliament which oversees relations with Iran, in an interview with the Persian service of the Voice of America refutes the idea of cutting Germany’s economic ties with Iran suggesting to limit the ties “only to necessities”.
The German Spiegel magazine said in a report based on the Germany’s statistical center that total amount of exports to Iran in the first eight months of the current year was more than 2 billion euro. Some western media accuse Germany of helping the Islamic republic to secure its economic stability.
Kurt Lechner, who along with two other prominent members if the Europen Delegation had attended Thursday in the Persian-language program of “Ofogh” (Horizon) of the Voice of America broadcasting into Iran, said: “The Germany’s economic ties with Iran should not be improved in any way.”
Responding to a question about any possible decision about limiting Germany’s economic ties with Iran, Lechner said “relations between the two countries should be limited only to necessities.”
He further said “all possible means, other than a military action, should be considered in order to see changes in behavior of Iran’s regime by increasing pressures on Tehran.”
According to Iran’s Custom Office, Germany was the fourth biggest exporter to Iran in the past seven months after United Arab Emirates, China and South Korea. Iran is under international economic sanctions because of disputes over its controversial nuclear program.
“Be sure that Germany would never be dependent to Iran’s gas or oil to meet its energy needs,” Lechner stressed.
MEPs urge Iran to adopt NPT Additional Protocol
Voice of America, PNN
By Siamak Dehghanpour and Babak Gorji
Nov 20 (Washington) – A delegation at the European Parliament which oversees the Iranian affairs, urged Tehran to implement what it calls the Additional Protocol, which permits unrestricted inspections on declared nuclear facilities to search for any possible covert atomic activity.
Relations between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog have become strained in the past years with the Vienna-based agency voicing frustration over what it says is lack of cooperation between the Islamic state and the agency’s inspectors.
The latest report published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) further strained Iran's relations with the IAEA and the West so that Iran’s parliament announced it is debating over limiting cooperation with the agency or possible withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“Iran should remain in the NPT. It has actually signed the Additional Protocol that gives more rights to inspect Iranian facilities and also gives Iran more guarantees about the accuracy of the IAEA’s gathered information,” Tarja Cronberg, the Finnish head of the Delegation for Relations with Iran at the European Parliament, said in an interview with the Voice of America’s Persian-language Horizon (Ofogh).
The last week’s report of the U.N. nuclear agency assessed that Iran has conducted researches and tests which could improve the Islamic state’s capability to develop nuclear weapons. The report further raised a clamor in Western capitals for harsher sanctions against the clerical regime.
PARALLEL APPROACH
The three prominent delegates warned the Islamic state of increasing international pressures if it refuses to meet its obligations though they stressed on the need of dialogue with Iran as the European Parliament’s parallel approach toward Iran.
“Under the current conditions, we should take the most benefits from every sanction even if they had not already been considered,” said the first vice-chairperson of the Delegation Kurt Lechner confirming his fellow delegation member Cronberg who said the EU supports sanctions but at the same time supports dialogue with Iran.
A senior member of the Delegation for Relations with Iran at the European Parliament Marietje Schaake from Netherlands said in the same TV program that: “we have to be careful not to push the (Iranian) population toward this regime by starting to isolate and even attack on Iran.”
“It is important that those in power in Iran stick to their words and start more cooperating with the international community, so that the worst possible option on the table can be avoided,” Schaake said in an apparent reference to a military option.
The West has long been insisting on a diplomatic solution to clear its concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but they, as well as Iran’s regional arch-foe Israel, have refused so far to rule out a military action on Iran's nuclear facilities.
“All possible means, other than a military action, should be considered,” said the German delegate Lechner expressing hope to see changes in behavior of Iran’s regime by increasing pressures on Tehran.
Analysts believe a military strike on the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter causes further tensions in the Middle East and in the world’s energy market as Iran has warned that it will respond to any attacks by hitting Israel and U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf.
NEGATIVE IMAGE
The European delegation was scheduled to pay a visit to Iran this month to meet with Iranian officials as well as a group of Iranian activists and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) to discuss not only over the disputed nuclear work but also over the human rights situation in the Islamic state. The visit was cancelled after the group’s request for visa was denied by Iranian authorities.
“By denying our requests for visas, it became clear to me that our visit from Iran could be necessary and positive as the hardliners were opposing to such visit,” Lechner said adding that “our meetings with people and civil society in Iran could make Iranian government worried about drawing another negative image of Iran in Europe.”
In October, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed said in a report about an increasing trend of alleged violations of the fundamental rights of the people and stressed the need for greater transparency from the Iranian authorities.
Asking whether the European delegation would plan for another visit to Iran if they ignore a part of their plan to meet with activists, Cronberg replied “It is important for the delegation to meet the parliament and also to meet the NGOs … so this plan is not changing.”
“There is no other plan to visit Iran in near future,” said Lechner adding that the earliest time could be late next year only if the conditions were met.
