Quietly and Successfully, the White House Tightens Noose Around Tehran
"The
administration of President Obama, without desisting from attempts to convince
Moscow and Beijing of the necessity of new sanctions, has opened another front
in the Cold War with Iran: they have explained to multinational corporations
that they can either do business with America or do it with
Iran."
The Americans are encircling
Iran. One by one, they are forcing multinational corporations not to trade with
Tehran. The new strategy has already brought better results than U.N.
sanctions.
For seven years, Washington
has tried unsuccessfully to bring a halt to the Iranian nuclear program by pushing
for sanctions in the U.N. Security Council. After months of painstaking
negotiations, they are usually adopted but are only symbolic and devoid of
teeth.
The watering down of the
sanctions is due to pressure from Russia and China, two permanent Security
Council members that have veto power and which have their own interests with
Iran. The Russians are building a nuclear power plant there and sell Iran weapons,
while the Chinese are buying Iranian oil and are in the business of exploiting
Iranian oil and gas fields.
For these reasons, the administration
of President Barack Obama, without desisting from attempts to convince Moscow
and Beijing of the necessity of new sanctions, has opened another front in the Cold
War with Iran. For months, it has been patiently and quietly talking to international
corporations. The Americans have a strong argument in hand: during the last
decade, companies doing business with Tehran received U.S. government contracts
and tax rebates worth a total of $108 billion. Now U.S. officials have
explained to them that they must make a choice - either do business with
America or do it with Iran. As one might expect, the companies usually choose
the former.
A week ago Leonid Fedun, vice
president of the Russian oil giant Lukoil, announced, “We're withdrawing from
the project to exploit the oil fields in Anaran, Iran. We can't continue
because of the threat of American sanctions.”
That same day, Russian
President Dmitri Medvedev said that, “sanctions against Iran aren't the best
option.” But Lukoil wants to build a huge refinery in the U.S., where it has,
along with Conoco Phillips, a chain of 1,600 gas stations.
Lukoil is just the latest
corporation to cave under American pressure. Washington is specifically
targeting companies that sell gasoline to Iran. Although Iran has the third
largest oil reserves in the world, its outdated refineries are unable to turn
it into gasoline. As a result, Tehran has to import 40 percent of the gasoline consumed
by the country. The analysts agree - this is the most vulnerable point of the regime
of the ayatollahs.
Last December, the U.S. House
of Representatives passed a bill that would impose penalties on companies that
sell gasoline to Iran. It isn't yet law, because the Senate introduced
amendments and now both chambers have to agree on a common version, which is reportedly
delayed due to the pressure from the White House.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The Obama Administration is
hesitating because the proposed law has allies protesting. In a letter to the
White House, the E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton criticized
the bill: “We are deeply concerned about the bill, which imposes an American
law on other countries, which is contrary to earlier agreements between the U.S.
and the E.U.”
The U.S. penalties, although
not yet law, are already causing a panic. In early March, the world’s largest
fuel trader, Vitol (a group based in Switzerland), said that beginning next January
1, it will not sign any new contracts with Iran, and that current gasoline
shipments were just to fulfill earlier agreements.
In parallel, Royal Dutch
Shell issues a similar announcement, while the Financial Times wrote
that other fuel resellers - the third largest fuel trader, Holland-based Trafigura,
and Swiss Glencore - are also abstaining from selling gasoline to Iran. Moreover,
the disease is spreading to other sectors of the economy; in March Ingersoll-Rand,
an international manufacturer of compressors and cooling systems terminated its
cooperation with Iran, and ordered its daughter companies to do the same. “We're
leaving the Tehran game until the regime changes,” said a company spokesman.
Experts believe that Iran
will always find someone to sell it gasoline, for example on Asian markets. But
it will have to pay more to smaller contractors. Among the potentates of the
global feul supply, only French Total, Malaysian Petronas and Kuwait’s IPG -
the last one supplying 25 percent of Iran’s gas imports - still provide gasoline
to Iran.
The Tehran authorities have
already begun to feel the bite of these gasoline sanctions. On March 21, the
government lowered the monthly allotment of cheap, subsidized gas from 80
liters [21 gallons] to 60 [15 gallons] (a liter costs about 10 cents). Once
they hit the limit, drivers must buy fuel at 4 times the price, which of course
is still heavily subsidized by the state.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The Iranian parliament has
prepared a plan for gradual elimination of subsidies for gas, food and
electricity, which cost the country tens of billions dollars per year. This is essential
if the inefficient Iranian economy is to stand on its own; on the other hand,
it is extremely risky for the regime. Tightening the noose of sanctions, the
Americans hope to bring the ayatollahs to make concessions, or even - in the
extreme case- to contribute to their downfall.
Since July 2009, when
hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a presidential election considered rigged by
the opposition, Iran has been restless. Dozens of people were killed when
police opened fire on street demonstrations. It's hard to imagine what will
happen when Iranians, already complaining about their lack of freedom, become
aware that they also have to endure drastic price hikes.
