U.S. Says Iraqis Are Helping Iran to Skirt Sanctions

[Lakhota]

By JAMES RISEN and DURAID ADNAN

WASHINGTON — When President Obama announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program.

The little-known bank singled out by the United States, the Elaf Islamic Bank, is only part of a network of financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that, according to current and former American and Iraqi government officials and experts on the Iraqi banking sector, has provided Iran with a crucial flow of dollars at a time when sanctions are squeezing its economy.

The Obama administration is not eager for a public showdown with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki over Iran just eight months after the last American troops withdrew from Baghdad.

More: U.S. Says Iraqis Are Helping Iran to Skirt Sanctions - The New York Times

 

[Lakhota]

NEO-CONNED: Iraq Establishing Itself As Geopolitical Player — But Not The Way The War's Architects Envisioned

Iraq-Iran Ties Grow Stronger As Iraq Rises From The Ashes

 

[Lakhota]

This would not have happened under Saddam. He hated Iran, and vice versa. Thanks, Bush.

 

[waltky]

Sanctions cut Iranian sea trade in half...

Iran's sea trade buckles under Western sanctions
10/11/2012 - Top Iranian shipping line hit by rial's plunge; seaborne trade crashes more than 50 percent.

Iran's vital seaborne trade is buckling under the weight of Western sanctions, deepening hardship for a population deprived of basic imports and heaping intense pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. Many of Iran's imports, including food and consumer goods, arrive on container, bulker and other ships, but the number of vessels calling at its ports has dived by more than half this year as the United States and European Union tighten the screws. Analysts doubt the Iranian economy is near collapse, even though its rial currency has plunged in the last few weeks, but they say some shortages and rising prices of imported goods could provoke public unrest directed at Tehran's leadership.

A growing number of Western companies, especially those in shipping and related businesses, are pulling out of trade with Iran due to the complexities of deals and tougher banking restrictions as the sanctions take hold - and out of fear of losing business elsewhere. "Iran's commercial shipping sector has suffered a significant hit," said Anthony Skinner of risk analysts Maplecroft. "Although US and EU sanctions do not target food shipments, importers struggle to acquire letters of credit and transfer funds. I expect current sanctions and the further tightening EU sanctions to sour the appetite of the international commercial shipping sector further." The United States and the EU have led the sanctions push, hoping to force Iran to halt its nuclear program which they suspect is aimed at making weapons. Tehran says the work is peaceful, but the trade measures are hurting shipping badly.

Data from maritime intelligence publisher IHS Fairplay showed the overall number of vessels calling at Iranian ports in the year to early October was 980. That figure for more than three quarters of this year compares with 2,740 ships for the whole of 2011 and 3,407 for 2010. Of that total, the number of visits by container ships - which carry consumer goods ranging from foodstuffs and household items to clothing and toys - was 86 so far this year, compared with 273 for the whole of 2011 and 378 in 2010. The world's top container firm Maersk Line said this week it had stopped port calls to Iran, citing the risk of damaging trade opportunities especially in the United States. "Lower shipping volumes may also mean that importing vital commodities will be increasingly hard, leading to possible riots over inflation," said Alan Fraser, Middle East analyst with security firm AKE. Only eight refrigerated cargo vessels carrying fresh produce including bananas called at Iranian ports so far this year, down from 16 in 2011 and 36 in 2010, the IHS Fairplay data showed. Even fishing trawlers unloading their catch have slumped to five from 14 last year and 20 in 2010.

Starved of dollars as the sanctions curb oil exports, Iran bought large amounts of grain earlier this year using other currencies. Nevertheless dry bulk ships, which can carry cereals and commodities such as coal and iron ore, have also made fewer port calls with 100 arrivals so far compared with 352 in 2011 and 406 in 2010. "You start to see Iran reaching a balance of payment crisis particularly on the imports side when a plummeting currency, which makes imports exceedingly expensive, is compounded by external sanctions," said Mark Dubowitz with the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. "The combination of these factors is making it difficult for Iran to buy what it needs from abroad and pay for these goods and services," said Dubowitz, who has advised US President Barack Obama's administration and US lawmakers on sanctions.

Iran's sea trade buckles under W... JPost - Iranian Threat - News

 

[Publius1787]

This would not have happened under Saddam. He hated Iran, and vice versa. Thanks, Bush.

Who was in charge of our policy toward Iraq for the past 3.5 years?

 

[martybegan]

This would not have happened under Saddam. He hated Iran, and vice versa. Thanks, Bush.

Ah, a lefties love of murderous dictators shown out in the open.

 

[waltky]

Turkey worried Iraq spinnin' out of control...

Iraq in deep trouble, Turkey says
Turkey, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The Turkish prime minister said his government was concerned about security in neighboring Iraq, saying the central government there is "deeply in trouble."

Turkish forces have been engaged with Kurdish militants operating along the border with Iraq. Tensions with the central government in Baghdad were strained early this year when Ankara hosted fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who was sentenced to death in absentia by a Baghdad court for allegedly operating a death squad.

Turkish daily newspaper Today's Zaman reports that 12 Iraqi troops were killed this week in clashes with Kurdish paramilitary forces known as the Peshmerga. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying Ankara was concerned that tensions between Baghdad and the semiautonomous Kurdish government could escalate into sectarian warfare.

"Currently, the central government is deeply in trouble," he said. "The possible solidarity among Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs in Iraq will be a problem for the Iraqi government." Ankara sided with Iyad Allawi, leader of the opposition Iraqiya slate, who challenged Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during elections in 2010.

Read more: Turkey claims Iraqi government becoming unstable - UPI.com

 

[waltky]

Money launderers targeted for helping Iran evade sanctions...

US Targets Web of Companies Accused of Evading Iran Sanctions
April 11, 2013 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday it has imposed sanctions on an Iranian businessman, a Malaysian bank and a network of companies it accused of attempting to evade international sanctions on Iran through money laundering.

The department blacklisted Babak Zanjani, the businessman, and First Islamic Investment Bank for providing financial and other support to the National Iranian Oil Company.

Petrochemical plant at an Iranian port. (2011 photo) New sanctions target financial transactions relating to Iran's oil exports.

It said Zanjani and a network of companies had moved billions of dollars on behalf of the Iranian government, including tens of millions of dollars to an engineering unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it uses to earn income. "As international sanctions have become increasingly stifling, Iran has resorted to criminal money laundering techniques, moving its oil and money under false names and pretenses,'' said David S. Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at Treasury. "Whether through Babak Zanjani ... or tomorrow's chosen accomplice, we will be relentless in exposing and thwarting Iran's attempts to evade international sanctions and abuse the global financial system,'' he said.

By taking the action against Zanjani, the bank and the network of companies, the department prohibited transactions between them and any U.S. citizen and freezes any assets they have under U.S. jurisdiction, it said. U.S. and European Union sanctions on Iran's oil industry aim to choke funding for its nuclear program, which they say is being used to develop weapons. Iran says the program is for civilian purposes. As talks between Iran and major powers have failed to end the deadlock over its nuclear program, lawmakers in the U.S. Senate are preparing legislation that would place further sanctions on Iran.

US Targets Web of Companies Accused of Evading Iran Sanctions

See also:

Former Nuclear Negotiator Joins Iran's Presidential Race
April 11, 2013 — A former Iranian nuclear negotiator announced on Thursday he would run for president, the most moderate contender so far to bid to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a June election dominated by conservatives.

Hassan Rohani, 64, was head of the powerful Supreme National Security Council under presidents Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, considered a master of realpolitik rather than an ideologue, and Mohammad Khatami, who pushed for wide-ranging social and political reforms. Rohani, a Muslim cleric, presided over talks with Britain, France and Germany that saw Iran agree to suspend uranium enrichment-related activities between 2003 and 2005. He resigned after Ahmadinejad took office in August that year. The nuclear work was resumed and Rohani was derided for being too accommodating in negotiations.

Hassan Rohani, center, during a meeting at the European Council building in Brussels

During Ahmadinejad's two terms in office, tensions with the West over Iran's nuclear program have worsened, with the United States and Europe imposing sanctions on its oil and banks over suspicions Tehran is seeking atomic arms, which it denies. "We need a new management for the country but not based on quarrelling, inconsistency and eroding domestic capacity, but through unity, consensus and attracting honest and efficient people," Rohani told a gathering of supporters on Thursday, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

The June election is Iran's first presidential poll since 2009 when mass street protests erupted against Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election. The defeated reformist candidates in that election, Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, who became figureheads for the "Green movement" - which mounted Iran's biggest street protests since the Islamic revolution in 1979 - have been under house arrest for more than two years. It is unclear whether the Guardian Council, a state body that can veto candidates, will allow reformists to run, but barring too many contenders risks destroying public interest in a vote which bolsters Iran's claims to democratic legitimacy.

"Straighforward Servant"