Why is Britain ramping up sanctions against Iran?

[Jos]

'The dog returns to its vomit, and the sow returns to her mire/ And the burnt fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the fire." Kipling was right. Britain is out of Iraq and desperate to get out of Afghanistan. So why gird ourselves for a fight with Iran, a proud country of 75 million people with whom we cannot go to war without taking leave of our senses?

Do any of Britain's leaders really think further economic sanctions will stop Iran's nuclear programme? I cannot believe it. Sanctions did not topple Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic or Muammar Gaddafi; they led merely to war. Sanctions have been imposed on Iran for 33 years because there was nothing else to do. They have done no good and almost certainly been counterproductive in reinforcing autocracy.

Washington has announced new commercial and financial sanctions on Iran, blacklisting anyone who does business with it. With an election in the offing, President Obama must show America's pro-Israel lobby that he is tough somewhere in the Middle East. The EU must this month decide whether to collude with the US in this dangerous game and ban Iran's oil exports. The threat was enough to get Tehran to test medium-range missiles in the Gulf, and its wilder heads to murmur about closing the Straits of Hormuz, thus blocking a third of the world's sea-borne oil.

Why is Britain ramping up sanctions against Iran? | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | The Guardian

 

[JStone]

'The dog returns to its vomit, and the sow returns to her mire/ And the burnt fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the fire." Kipling was right. Britain is out of Iraq and desperate to get out of Afghanistan. So why gird ourselves for a fight with Iran, a proud country of 75 million people with whom we cannot go to war without taking leave of our senses?

Do any of Britain's leaders really think further economic sanctions will stop Iran's nuclear programme? I cannot believe it. Sanctions did not topple Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic or Muammar Gaddafi; they led merely to war. Sanctions have been imposed on Iran for 33 years because there was nothing else to do. They have done no good and almost certainly been counterproductive in reinforcing autocracy.

Washington has announced new commercial and financial sanctions on Iran, blacklisting anyone who does business with it. With an election in the offing, President Obama must show America's pro-Israel lobby that he is tough somewhere in the Middle East. The EU must this month decide whether to collude with the US in this dangerous game and ban Iran's oil exports. The threat was enough to get Tehran to test medium-range missiles in the Gulf, and its wilder heads to murmur about closing the Straits of Hormuz, thus blocking a third of the world's sea-borne oil.

Why is Britain ramping up sanctions against Iran? | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | The Guardian

*
Maybe, because those troglodytes in the islimic shithole of Iran support al Qaeda, monkey? You're stupid even for a monkey.

Treasury Targets Key Al-Qa

allahu fucku, monkey

 

[waltky]

US troops in Israel too...

Alert: Iran Crisis Headed for World War III
January 9, 2012 - War in the Middle East now appears imminent as the United States, Britain, the European Union, and Israel put the finishing touches on an embargo on Iran – a de facto declaration of war – and warships steam toward the Persian Gulf.

Consider the following recent developments:

U.S.-Israeli War Game in Persian Gulf

On Friday, the U.S. and Israel announced they plan a massive military exercise in the Persian Gulf in an attempt to confront Iran. The exercise, dubbed “Austere Challenge 12,” will include the participation of thousands of U.S. and Israeli soldiers and will test multiple air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets. On January 2, during its last military exercise, Iran tested its Qader missile, a long-range sea-to-shore missile, and the surface-to-surface Nour missile. The Nour is an “advanced radar-evading, target-seeking, guided and controlled missile and can easily find its target and destroy it,” IRNA reported, quoting 2nd Adm. Seyed Mahmoud Musavi.

Iran Announces New War Game

Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, naval commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said on Friday Iran will conduct a second military exercise in the Persian Gulf in February. He said the drill would be “different compared to previous exercises held by the IRGC” but provided no additional details. Iran also launched a military maneuver near its border with Afghanistan on Saturday. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ ground forces, said the “Martyrs of Unity” exercises are “aimed at boosting security along the Iranian borders,” Fars reported.

British Warships Sent

On Saturday, the British Royal Navy annoucned it is sending its most advanced warship to the Persian Gulf. The HMS Daring is a Type 45 destroyer that has the world’s most sophisticated naval radar. Earlier in the week, British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond warned Iran against blocking the strait after Iran said it would take action if the United States sailed an aircraft carrier through the waterway following an Iranian 10-day military exercise designed to demonstrate its ability to close down the strategic oil passage.

French and Russian Warships Off Syria

The Israeli intelligence asset DEBKAfile reports today that the Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov anchored at Syria’s Tartus port on the Mediterranean on Sunday and arrived with the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and frigate Yaroslav Mudry. “To counter this movement, France consigned an air defense destroyer Forbin to the waters off Tartus,” DEBKAfile claims. Reflecting Israel’s propaganda line on Iran and Syria, DEBKAfile claims that its “military sources report the constant escalation of military tension around Iran and Syria in recent days as not just stemming from the rapid advances Iran is making toward production of a nuclear weapon, but from fears in the West and Israel that Tehran and Damascus are in step over their military plans for the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean sectors.”

Ron Paul: Sanctions First Step Toward War

 

[waltky]

India ain't goin' along with the program...

India Pledges To Continue Buying Iran Oil
Thursday 26 January 2012 - India could be on a collision course with the United States and European Union after officials in Delhi made clear they intended to carry on importing oil from Iran, despite the imposition of Western sanctions against Tehran.

S Jaipal Reddy, India’s Oil Minister, said yesterday that the country was still considering how best to make payments for the $12bn of crude oil it annually imports from Iran, and which it pays for using a Turkish bank as an intermediary. Delhi is concerned that the US will seek to persuade Turkey to block this option as the West steps up pressure on Iran. Drawing a very clear distinction between UN sanctions and those imposed by the US, Mr Reddy told reporters: “We will scrupulously adhere to the sanctions imposed by the UN. No less, no more. We will continue to explore various options of payment to Iran. As of now, supplies are on and Iran has been very positive and we are still optimistic.”

A team of Indian experts recently visited Tehran to assess the best way to continue to make payments. Unconfirmed reports suggest the options include the rupee, which is only partly convertible, and the Japanese yen. One report suggested India would pay for the oil using gold. Mr Reddy declined to comment on the outcome of the discussions. “We cannot disclose such things,” he said. The US and EU, which accuse Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon – an accusation that Iran stridently denies – are seeking various ways to put pressure on the government in Tehran. EU foreign ministers this week agreed to a ban on oil imports from Iran as of 1 July.

India has no intention of following suit. The country is hungry for energy, with an economy growing at more than 7 per cent. The AFP news agency reports that India buys 12 per cent of its oil from Iran, which is its second largest supplier after Saudi Arabia. China is the Islamic Republic’s largest customer, accounting for around 20 per cent of its exports, and has already made clear it has no plan to alter this arrangement. Last year, as the issue of sanctions emerged, there were reports India may seek to barter for the oil, offering steel, electronic goods and food in exchange.

Source

 

[waltky]

Iran gonna have to prove its nuclear program is peaceful...

Iran sanctions may be lifted – Russian Deputy FM
February 25, 2013 : As diplomats arrive in the Kazakh capital for the start of P5+1 negotiations with Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said a breakthrough is possible if Tehran proves its nuclear program is peaceful.

Ryabkov is leading the Russian delegation in Almaty and said the success of the negotiations require “the political will” and the commitment necessary for the negotiations to “enter this stage.” The Russian diplomat expressed Moscow’s growing frustration over the progress of the talks, which have produced few breakthroughs in a series of fits and starts. “We are calling upon all participants to stop wasting any more time,” the Deputy Foreign Minister told reporters as negotiators prepare for their latest attempt at resolving the Iranian nuclear standoff. “It is simply uncivilized when we make pauses of eight or 15 months,” Ryabkov added.

Iran has been subject to international sanctions over Tehran’s refusal to fully cooperate with officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The UN nuclear watchdog wants full access to Iran’s suspected nuclear sites in order to prove it is not conducting nuclear weapons research. Tehran says its nuclear program is restricted to a civilian energy program. The Russian diplomat also had some tough words for the Iranians. “We count upon Iran to arrive in Almaty better prepared from the point of…finding a real common platform, not the repetition of what everyone already knows,” he emphasized.

Ryabkov admitted the negotiations will require a lot of give and take on both sides of the table. “The hard part is how to agree on the balance of interests,” he acknowledged. “It is obvious that no one wants to disclose one’s internal affairs for nothing.” They need to get something in exchange, Ryabkov said. Although the Russian diplomat predicted there would be “no breakthrough, no joint decisions or sensational results as far as the settlement as a whole is concerned,” he said the negotiators may make enough progress to say that the Almaty round of talks was not “held in vain.”

The negotiations in Almaty, scheduled for February 26-27, will include Iranian National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, who attended the June meeting in Moscow, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, French Foreign Ministry Director-General for Political and Security Affairs Jacques Audibert, British Foreign Office Political Director Simon Gass and German Foreign Ministry Envoy Hans-Dieter Lucas. The latest round of negotiations between P5+1 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) was held in Moscow on June 18-19.

Iran sanctions may be lifted ? Russian Deputy FM ? RT Russian politics

 

[WethePeopleUS]

The U.S. actually got a surprising number of countries to hop on the latest round of sanctions band wagon. Britain, being a close U.S. ally would obviously follow suit. And anyone who has studied past U.S./Iran negotiations know that Iran uses negotiations as "stall-tactics" and they have no intention of standing by any promises made. Then when they feel they don't need to stall, they will end negotiations and blame it on the West. The sooner we realize these "negotiations" are a smoke screen to by Iran time to complete their nuke, the better off we will be.

 

[Politico]

Is this a serious question?