Tag: Sanctions against Iran

The United States Treasury is close to a decision whether to blacklist more banks that appear to be defying sanctions against Iran, including an institution in Turkey, a senior Treasury official said on Tuesday.

David Cohen, nominated to be Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, told a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing that he will vigorously enforce the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Disinvestment Act (CISADA)

The law, aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program, effectively requires banks to choose between dealing with the U.S.-led financial system or to continue doing business with Iran.

Members of the Senate Banking Committee questioned Cohen on why Treasury had not sanctioned any banks under CISADA, which was passed in July 2010 to enforce tougher UN sanctions against Iran.

“We are pursuing the leverage” against banks dealing with Iran, Cohen said. “Our first option is to get them to stop. Our second best option is to apply sanctions. Without getting into the details of any particular investigation, we are getting close to a decision point on several institutions,” Cohen did not name any of the banks, but said that one institution in Turkey was effectively violating the sanctions.

“We are committed to enforcing the law,” Cohen added. “Generically, we have a financial institution (in Turkey) that is not responsive to our overtures and it is engaged in activity that is sanctionable under CISADA. We will pursue that very vigorously.”

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, said he was concerned that Treasury had not adequately enforced the CISADA law.

“I am seriously concerned that as one of the prime movers of that legislation, that a sanctions regime that ultimately goes largely unenforced or to low-level players, sends the message of a toothless tiger,” Menendez said.

He added that he wanted a sense that Cohen, who is now serving as acting undersecretary, would pursue sanctions under CISADA before he would support Cohen’s nomination.

via U.S. Treasury nears decision on expanding Iran sanctions – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) — After meeting Thursday with Turkey’s president in advance of multinational discussions on Iran’s controversial nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he hopes the talks will be productive but stressed that international sanctions “have no impact on Iran’s decision-making process” and “have always failed.”

Ahmadinejad and Turkish President Abdullah Gul, along with ministers of the two countries, met separately Thursday after the 11th summit meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization at the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. Leaders and delegations from Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Central Asian countries also attended the summit, whose aim was to promote regional economic development and cooperation among member states.

Discussions between Iran and what is known as the P5 plus 1 — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China) plus Germany — are to be held in Istanbul in late January. This second round of talks was agreed to after two days of discussions between Iran and the six-nation group earlier this month in Geneva, Switzerland.

Though Turkey will have no direct role in the January discussions, “It is in our advantage as well as Iran’s that the matter is resolved through diplomatic ways,” Gul said.

“Turkey has important contributions. It is important that progress is made in the content of these meetings,” he added.

The United States, other Western countries and Israel fear that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran has steadfastly denied, saying its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes. Iran already faces stiff sanctions from the international community because it has continued to enrich uranium.

“We hope the Istanbul meeting becomes a good meeting with lasting results,” Ahmadinejad said during a news conference Thursday. However, he said, “Sanctions have no impact on Iran’s decision-making process … and sanctions have always failed. … Our enemies cannot harm our very strong economy by imposing sanctions on Iran.”

In a speech during the summit, Gul, who now assumes the rotating presidency of the Economic Cooperation Organization, succeeding Ahmadinejad, pointed to the low levels of economic cooperation among the ECO countries and said: “We need to develop the region and give back its former glory,” referring to the ancient silk and spice roads that ran through Central Asia.

Gul also called on member states that have not yet signed the Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement to sign it.

A declaration was issued at the end of the summit calling on member countries to have closer economic cooperation.

The Turkish president, during a news conference, called the summit “very productive.” He said Iraq made a bid to join the organization, which was welcomed by the member states.

The Economic Cooperation Organization, established in 1985, promotes regional economic development and cooperation. In addition to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, members include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Azerbaijan will host the next organization’s summit in 2012.

via Iranian president: ‘Sanctions have always failed’ – CNN.com.

ISTANBUL (Hurriyet)–Iran has begun secret negotiations with Turkey and three other countries to surrender significant amounts of its uranium stockpile and cease enrichment in exchange for an end to international sanctions, the Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

According to the British daily’s report, the Turkish-led deal calls on Iran to ship roughly 1,000 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium, as well as its entire 30 kilogram stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium, to a safe location. In return, France and Russia will supply ready-made fuel rods for the medical isotope reactor for which Iran says it has been enriching uranium to 20 percent – a level which halves the time needed to manufacture weapons-grade material.

In exchange, the international community would agree to end sanctions that have crippled the country’s economy, the daily said.

France, Russia and the United States have also been involved in the negotiations, which began after a meeting between Ahmed Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, and Iranian officials in Bahrain earlier this month, the daily reported, citing anonymous diplomatic sources.

via Iran in Secret Talks with Turkey to End Nuclear Sanctions | Asbarez Armenian News.

By DAVID CRAWFORD

The U.S. and representatives of the European Union have agreed to impose joint sanctions against Iran in January and are considering breaking off talks with the country, as patience with Tehran’s nuclear activities wears thin, according to people familiar with the matter.

Western officials are discussing making further talks with Iran contingent on Tehran’s progress toward compliance with existing United Nations Security Council resolutions, which call on Iran to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog.

Iran returned to the negotiating table this month in Geneva with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, which seek to contain Tehran’s nuclear program. The talks led to an agreement to another round of discussions early next year in Istanbul.

Some Western officials accuse Iran of playing for time by agreeing to talks but refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations. Senior diplomats from the U.S., U.K. and France met in Paris on Tuesday to chart the new course, amid growing frustration over Iran’s obstruction of IAEA inspections. London and Paris help to coordinate policy for the entire EU on Iran.

The three nations plan to finalize details of the plan by the end of the year, then deliver the proposal to the EU sanctions committee to get the new measures in place before talks resume in Istanbul.

Iranian officials couldn’t be reached late Friday to comment. Iran says it fully complies with its international obligations.

It is unclear what shape the new sanctions will take. The three countries agreed that the U.S. and European Union should act together with a uniform set of sanctions, rather than seeking further United Nations sanctions, a time-consuming process with no guarantee of success.

The IAEA says Iran isn’t fully cooperating with the U.N. agency’s efforts to determine whether Iran’s nuclear program is for peaceful nuclear purposes. The Security Council has imposed and strengthened sanctions against Iran on four occasions since 2006. The U.S. and the EU have imposed even stricter sanctions.

The measures have hit Iran’s economy hard but have so far failed to break the will of its political leadership. Iran denies it seeks nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Going into the Geneva talks, Iran stressed its right to produce nuclear fuel is nonnegotiable—contrary to Western demands—and announced scientific gains that would complete its mastery of the nuclear-fuel cycle.

Write to David Crawford at david.crawford@wsj.com

via U.S., EU Nations Agree on New Iran Sanctions – WSJ.com.