U.S. Sanctions Clamp Down on Iran

Ariela Fleisig — June 24, 2011 – 11:15 am | Barack Obama | Foreign Policy | Iran Comments (0) Add a comment

The Obama Administration announced yesterday even more sanctions on Iran - this time, against two companies, Iran Air and Tidewater Middle East Company.  

The Washington Post’s Joby Warrick stated that these measures, which restrict business between U.S. companies and the two Iranian companies, were due to Iran Air’s alleged role in the deliveries of high-tech parts for Iran’s missiles and nuclear weapons program as well as illegal weapons trafficking to Syria-based terrorist groups. He wrote:

U.S. officials said the measures were indirectly aimed at Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose leaders are alleged to dominate the country’s illicit trade in weapons parts and technology. A statement attributed to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the United States would seek to ‘sharpen the choice for Iran’s leaders to abandon their dangerous course.’

‘Until Iran is prepared to engage seriously with us . . . we will continue to increase the pressure,’ the statement said.

Warrick reported that Iran Air is already under a multitude of sanctions from a variety of countries, and that many European countries ban its jets already. Tidewater, he writes, is owned by the Revolutionary Guard, and is thought to use its ownership of many Iranian ports to take part in illegal shipping. Warrick stated:

The sanctions are intended to ‘further expose the [Guard’s] central role in Iranian illicit conduct . . . so that the international community can take steps to protect against the risk of doing business’ with the organization, a senior administration official told reporters in describing the measures at a news conference.

The official called the Revolutionary Guard ‘central to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, its support for terrorism, its human rights abuses and its role in fomenting instability in the region.’

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