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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - February 15, 2010
US Imposes New, Targeted Sanctions on Iran Revolutionary
Guard
by: Grace Huang
truthout|Report
The Obama administration on Wednesday announced new
sanctions targeting four companies affiliated with the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and one member
who runs them.
The Treasury Department will freeze the assets of Gen.
Rostam Qasemi and four subsidiaries of Khatam al-Anbiya
Construction Headquarters. According to a State Department
news release, the firm is the engineering arm of the Guard
that "serves to help the IRGC generate income and fund its
operations."
"As the IRGC consolidates control over broad swaths of the
Iranian economy, displacing ordinary Iranian businessmen
in favor of a select group of insiders, it is hiding
behind companies like Khatam al-Anbiya and its affiliates
to maintain vital ties to the outside world," said Under
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart
Levey. "Today's action exposing Khatam al-Anbiya sub-
sidiaries will help firms worldwide avoid business that
ultimately benefits the IRGC and its dangerous activities."
The report lists WMD proliferation and support for
terrorism among the illicit activities supported by IRGC
companies' profits.
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"The sanctions can have a decent impact because it's going
to make it harder for [the IRGC] to do business worldwide,"
said Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian
American Council (NIAC). "These are sanctions the world
is willing to take part in, which can have an effect if
everyone signs on."
Iran denies it wants to manufacture nuclear weapons and
says that it is enriching uranium to generate energy and
make medical isotopes used in treatment and research.
In an impromptu Q&A session with White House reporters
on Tuesday, President Obama said that his administration
has "bent over backwards" to tell Iran it was willing to
converse about how Iran could follow international norms
and "reenter as full members of the international
community."
Notably, the administration offered to convert the low-
enriched uranium that Iran has into the forms needed for
medical research and treatment. However, Iran has refused
the offer, which all five members of the United Nations
Security Council, including Russia and China, and the
director of the International Atomic Energy Agency have
said is a good deal, according to President Obama.
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"That indicates to us that, despite their posturing that
their nuclear power is only for civilian use, that they
in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to
weaponization," he said. "And that is not acceptable
to the international community, not just to the United
States."
These sanctions expand previous ones that also targeted
elements of the IRGC. In addition to implementing them,
the Obama administration has also been working to broaden
UN Security Council sanctions as well, though the president
still advocates leaving the offer to negotiate on the
table while threatening added pressure.
"They have made their choice so far, although the door is
still open," President Obama said in a news conference on
Wednesday. "And what we are going to be working on over
the next several weeks is developing a significant regime
of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they
are from the international community as a whole."
Effective multilateral sanctions would depend largely on
the support of Russia and China. Earlier this week, Russia
sent signals that it could support further sanctions
against Iran after Tehran refused to send its uranium
abroad for enrichment. President Obama noted, however,
that China's vote is not assured, which could prove
problematic as China is one of the five veto holders on
the UN Security Council.
Abdi said that China is not likely to exercise its veto
power here, however. "The U.S. has done a good job of
building a consensus," he said. "Even though China doesn't
want to go ahead with this, for sanctions like the type
the U.S. did today, China will ultimately not vote or will
go along with it."
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However, he added, China will probably not go ahead with
more significant steps that hurt the broader Iranian
economy, as there is a threshold for what actions it will
accept.
These sanctions come the day before the 31st anniversary of
Iran's Islamic revolution, one that is sure to spark major
protests. Since the disputed Iranian presidential election
last June, supporters of the opposition leaders have taken
to the streets.
According to The New York Times, however, in recent weeks
Iranian security officials have arrested many in an effort
to head off protests on Thursday. The Revolutionary Court
summoned the wife and children of a journalist held in
custody "to appear as political prisoners," the first time
an action like this seems to have been taken.
In a joint statement, the US and the EU condemned the
continuing human rights violations in Iran, saying they
were particularly concerned about possible violence and
repression on Thursday and calling upon the government
to "live up to its international human rights obligations."
The way the sanctions were targeted is important, Abdi
said, because it conveys a message to the Iranians.
"We're targeting the government and not targeting the
people. It's showing that we're not going to sacrifice
the democracy movement and acting like that has no bear-
ing, and that we're not going to exact sanctions at any
cost."
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