Top Stories NYT: "Despite public embarrassment and pressure from the United States, German officials appear to be at a loss for ways to prevent a bank in Germany from being used by India to pay for Iranian oil, money that U.S. officials say could help finance Iran's nuclear weapons program. German officials said they had no legal basis to block the payments, made by India to the Hamburg-based Europäisch-Iranische Handelsbank, or E.I.H. The money flows through the German central bank, the Bundesbank, as part of the international payments system. The payments have apparently been going on for a few weeks, but attracted public attention in Germany only this week, after a report in a leading German business newspaper, Handelsblatt. The U.S. authorities have been pressing Germany to shut down the conduit, while the German authorities say they cannot do so without strong evidence that E.I.H. has violated U.N. sanctions against supplying the Iranian weapons program. Last September, the U.S. Treasury accused E.I.H. of handling payments for Iranian weapons development, including $3 million in 2007 used to purchase material for Iranian missile programs, and said it had acted as an intermediary for several Iranian banks with close ties to the government. The Treasury department added E.I.H. to its list of so-called designated banks whose activities are blocked." http://t.uani.com/iehvAm AFP: "Hong Kong said Wednesday it had passed laws to comply with UN sanctions against Iran, two months after 20 shipping firms in the city were accused of having links to Tehran's weapons buildup. The new laws -- which came into effect last Friday -- brought the city in line with the latest sanctions against Iran including visa bans and asset freezes on Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL). In January, the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on two dozen shipping companies affiliated with IRISL, which it accuses of fronting Iranian businesses involved in Tehran's missile programmes. Observers have said firms dodging sanctions or engaging in other illicit activity often look to Hong Kong for cover given the ease of registering a business in the city, which is also a major shipping hub. In November, Hong Kong authorities detained a cargo ship linked to IRISL over an alleged loan default with a group of European banks. 'The amended regulations update existing sanctions against Iran to implement decisions of the United Nations Security Council under Resolution 1929,' a government spokeswoman told AFP Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/f5VEYw NBC: "There's a new billboard in Hampton Roads that blasts Maersk for doing business in Iran despite U.S. sanctions against the terrorist-backed country. Maersk is the company that grabbed headlines when Somali pirates hijacked their ship, the Maersk Alabama, two years ago and took Captain Richard Phillips hostage. The United States has imposed sanctions against Iran, which means there's an embargo on dealings with Iran, and a ban on selling aircraft and repair parts to Iranian aviation companies. The billboard near the railroad tracks on Princess Anne Road reads, 'Tell Maersk: Shape up or ship out.' The billboard is paid for by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI.) 'We decided to put up a billboard informing the people of the community that this company which is based there and employing a lot of members in the community is sending money to Iran at the same time they are accepting money from the U.S. military,' said UANI spokesperson Nathan Carleton." http://t.uani.com/gwQhqP
Nuclear Program & Sanctions Bloomberg: "Kuwait will deport three Iranian diplomats who, a court ruled, were involved with a spy network, Al-Qabas reported, citing Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed al- Sabah. The court, which sentenced two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to death for alleged involvement with the spy network, 'proved this cell's direct links to Iran, and precisely Iran's Revolutionary Guard,' Al-Qabas cited Sheikh Mohammed as saying. Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Tehran for talks, the foreign minister said yesterday in an interview. The Persian Gulf state will also summon the Iranian charge d'affaires to express its displeasure, according to Al-Qabas." http://t.uani.com/hVGP4N AP: "An Israeli official said Wednesday that Argentina's foreign minister offered assurance his government is committed to investigating two terrorist bombings against Jews in this South American nation in the 1990s. Earlier this week, the Israeli government asked Argentina to address the matter after a newspaper reported that Argentine officials had offered to stop the investigation in return for better trade ties with Iran. Argentina has long accused Iran of being behind the attacks. On Wednesday, Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman stated 'his deep commitment to the investigation,' said Nathan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency, which handles Israel's relations with Jews in other countries." http://t.uani.com/egFkVr Domestic Politics NYT: "Until the revolution, Iran was among the most cultured, cosmopolitan countries in the region. It had a progressive movement in art and literature and a sophisticated film and television industry. The mostly Shiite Muslim population was pious but not fanatical... These are anxious times for artists in Iran. Some have simply decided to remain outside the country... In the course of my stay in Tehran, I visited about a dozen galleries, met many talented artists and saw daring and progressive work. The good news is that Iranian art is alive and well. The bad news is that so much of the work cannot be shown publicly, or can be exhibited only for a few hours during an opening before being whisked into storage. The Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance keeps a tight rein on what can and cannot be displayed, and every gallery owner I met had a story about being called in to the ministry and asked to explain and subsequently remove the artworks on their walls. Pieces deemed offensive or blasphemous expose dealer and creator to prosecution." http://t.uani.com/ibsbeB Opinion & Analysis Josh Rogin in FP: "The State Department announced on Tuesday that it has decided to apply the recently passed Iran sanctions legislation to the Belarusian company Belorusneft. But GOP senators monitoring the implementation of the law said the move was marginal and unsatisfactory... State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Wednesday that, in practical terms, the action prohibits Belorusneft from seeking assistance from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, obtaining U.S. government export licenses, obtaining private U.S. bank loans exceeding $10 million, and securing any procurement contracts with the U.S. government. Belarusneft, the largest oil company in Belarus, hasn't actually tried to apply for any of those things, but Toner explained that the new announcement 'also sends a message to our partners in Europe as well that this is a company that we've decided to sanction. And I'm sure they have access or would seek access into European markets.' Toner didn't say if State was pushing the EU to follow suit. Three senior senators who have been intimately involved in the Iran sanctions law and its implementation immediately shot off a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, obtained by The Cable, criticizing today's announcement as too weak. 'We are writing to express our disappointment with today's announcement that the administration designated only one additional entity for violating U.S. sanctions with regard to Iran,' wrote Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). 'We do not believe this represents full compliance with the sanctions regime put in place by Congress.' These senators have long been calling for the administration to penalize companies that hail from other countries, especially China. 'It appears that Chinese firms in the energy and banking sectors have conducted significant activity in violation of U.S. law,' ten senators wrote to Clinton on March 10. 'We cannot afford to create the impression that China will be given free rein to conduct economic activity in Iran when more responsible nations have chosen to follow the course we have asked of them. We are sure you agree.' ...The GOP senate offices in question see today's designation as marginal, especially as the parent company, Belneftekhim, was already sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2007 through Executive Order 13405, which targeted firms connected to President Alexander Lukashenko for human rights violations, and three other subsidiaries were sanctioned in 2008. 'It's a complete disappointment,' one senior GOP aide told The Cable. 'You would have thought they had already found a way to only designate the lowest hanging fruit when they sanctioned NICO. Alas, they found a lower hanging fruit.'" http://t.uani.com/ep6JB8 |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment