Iran Rejects New U.N. Sanctions

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright June 9, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

            Voting in a fourth round of sanctions against Iran June 9, the U.N. Security Council fired a shot against the Tehran’s bow, signaling the world’s growing impatience with its nuclear enrichment program.  Throwing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a loop, Iran’s key trading partners, Russia and China, two veto-wielding members of the U.S. Security Council, signed on to the new round of sanctions.  Drumming up opposition to new sanctions, Ahmandinejad traveled the globe, from China to Venezuela, to build military and economic alliances with U.S. enemies.  Calling the Security Council decision “valueless,” Ahmadinejad indicated the agreement should be tossed “in the waste bin like a used handkerchief,” promising to keep up the feverish pace of uranium enrichment.  Western nations fear that Iran is feverishly pursuing weapons grade uranium to build A-bombs.

            Ahmadinejad has insisted that Iran is well within its rights to pursue “peaceful” uses of nuclear power, the same peaceful purpose as Pakistan, whose nuclear bombs have kept its archenemy India neutralized.  New U.N. sanctions blacklist some 40 companies doing business with the Islamic Republic.  U.S. officials, led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, rejected proposals by Brazil and Turkey to reprocess Iran’s enriched uranium.  “This council has risen to its responsibilities.  Now Iran should choose a wiser course,” said U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, hoping the new resolution discourages Tehran from making weapons-grade fuel.  “Nothing will change.  The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue uranium enrichment activities,” said. Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Ali Asghar in Vienna.  Iran was caught Sept. 26, 2009 red handed, concealing a new nuclear enrichment facility in the ancient city of Qom.

            Nuclear experts believe the window is closing on Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear bomb.  New U.N. sanctions were designed to avert military action against the Islamic Republic but clamp down on its ability to do business with firms supporting its nuclear industry.  “We will ensure that these sanctions are vigorously enforced, just as we continue to refine and enforce our own sanctions on Iran,” said President Barack Obama, whose tenacious pursuit of new sanctions won over Russia and China.  With Iraq and Afghanistan still consuming U.S. resources, Obama has few options other than working through the U.N. Security Council.  Calling the sanctions “a clear signal that Iran’s continued failure . . . to cease its enrichment-related activities cannot be tolerated,” said British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, hoping the new sanctions would placate Israel from taking unilateral action.

            Israel responded forcefully June 7, 1981 blowing up Iraq’s above-ground Osirak nuclear reactor.  Iran’s multiple concrete-fortified subterranean nuclear reactors present a far more complicated mission, should Israel conclude sanctions won’t deter Tehran from building an A-bomb.  With Ahmadinejad hosting Holocaust denial conferences and threatening to “wipe Israel off the map,” the conservative Likud government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t allow Iran to develop nuclear bombs.  Russian Foreign Ministry hoped the new sanctions would “exclude the possibility of using force” but the Israeli government has made no promises.  New U.N. sanctions buy Tehran some time before Israel or the U.S. takes more draconic steps.   Forty companies are blacklisted in the new sanctions, including three owned by Iran and 15 owned by the Revolutionary Guards from transacting business.

            U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated that the White House could take unilateral actions with its European allies restricting Iran’s oil and gas imports.  Ahmadinejad has insisted since the U.S. Security Council adopted its first sanctions in 2006 that Iran joined the “nuclear club” and would not back down from its right to complete the “nuclear fuel cycle,” under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, enabling signers to enrich uranium for “peaceful” purposes.  Iran has pursued bomb-making plans from Pakistan and long-range missile technology from North Korea.  U.S. officials worry that a nuclear-armed Iran would destabilize the Persian Gulf and Middle East, allowing Iran to dominate the region.  Like Somali pirates. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards already  harass peaceful nations with speed boats in international waters, leaving the Gulf a dangerous waterway.

            Iran’s nuclear enrichment program won’t be immediately deterred by the Security Council’s latest round of sanctions.  Iran wants A-bombs the same way as Pakistan held India at bay after going nuclear.  U.S. and Israel would have few options left if Tehran obtained an A-bomb, other than its current deterrent strategy.  No one knows whether or not Tehran would follow a deterrence model or whether Tehran would blackmail its neighbors in the Persian Gulf and Middle East.  U.N. sanctions can only work if Security Council members refuse to submit to Tehran’s game-playing.  Since winning a fraudulent election June 13, 2009, Ahamadinejad has brutally repressed opposition groups in one of the most violent crackdowns since the Nazis in WW II.  Ahmadienjad’s feverish pursuit of enriched uranium has upped the ante, raising the stakes for the U.S. and U.N. in the Persian Gulf and Middle East.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.