http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=7739
Issue 15 - January, 2006
By: Dan Bilefsky and David E. Sanger Posted on: 12/29/2005
Europeans criticize U.S. sanctions as potential risk to Iran
talks
written by: Dan Bilefsky and David E. Sanger, 29-Dec-05
A general view of the Steyr-Mannlicher GmbH, building in St. Peter
Austria.
New U.S. sanctions against nine foreign companies accused of aiding
Iran's weapons programs could signal a harder line toward Tehran by
the Bush administration and could hinder diplomatic efforts by
Europe to end the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, EU
officials and analysts said Wednesday.
The companies include six in China, two in India, and an Austrian
arms manufacturer.
Reacting to the sanctions, which apply to Steyr-Mannlicher of
Austria, over its sales of armor-piercing rifles with scopes to
Iran, the Austrian government on Wednesday defended the company and
questioned the sense of the U.S. move long after the deal was
completed.
The sanctions, announced Tuesday by the State Department, are part
of a complex effort to cut off the flow of technology to Iran that
could aid its weapons programs while pressing China and Russia to
threaten action against Tehran at the UN Security Council.
EU officials said an increase in U.S. pressure on Iran could
complicate the diplomatic efforts of the Union, which is trying to
end the nuclear standoff with Iran while also acting as a mediator
between Tehran and Washington.
Talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany resumed earlier
this month, making little progress, and are to continue in
January.
Washington is pushing for Tehran to be brought before the Security
Council, where it could face economic sanctions over the dispute.
Russia and China, which have vetoes on the council, oppose
referral, and the West has stopped short of forcing the
matter.
A senior EU official said, "It is very important that the EU and
Washington speak with a united voice and that the EU continue to
take the diplomatic lead." But the official noted that the European
Union was growing increasingly impatient with Iran over its
intransigence. The official, who requested anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the talks, said that Washington and Brussels were in
close contact and had been taking a coordinated approach.
In talks last year in Brussels, Washington and European leaders
brought their stances on Iran closer, with President George W. Bush
giving tacit support to EU countries' negotiations with Iran after
years of the United States' refusing to negotiate with Iran or to
publicly endorse European diplomatic efforts.
Bowing to European pressure, Bush also agreed to offer limited
incentives to Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, including
dropping U.S. opposition to Iran starting talks to join the World
Trade Organization.
But EU diplomats acknowledged that relations with Iran had cooled
since then and that recent comments by the President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad of Iran that the Holocaust was a myth had taken
relations to a new low. At a meeting this month, EU leaders said
they might even consider imposing sanctions.
Rosemary Holis, an Iran expert at the Royal Institute of
International Affairs in London, said the new sanctions suggested
that the United States was allowing the EU's diplomacy to exhaust
itself while casting around for new means to bring Iran into
line.
"Washington is allowing Europe's diplomacy to run its course, but
it has always been skeptical that diplomacy would work, and this
suggests it is starting to take practical measures to tackle the
problem with Iran," she said.
She added that Tehran appeared determined to continue its nuclear
program and that threatening action against Iran at the UN Security
Council could spur it on even more.
Austria's Interior Ministry spokesman, Johannes Rauch, said
Wednesday that the delivery of 800 high-powered Steyr snipers'
rifles to the Iranian police was legal from the Austrian point of
view. He added that the Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry
approved the sale in November 2004 with the provision that it be
completed by August 2005, The Associated Press reported.
It quoted Rauch as telling the Austria Press Agency that approval
for further sales was "not likely" considering present tensions
with Iran because of growing concerns about its policies, but that
sanctioning Steyr months after the deal was completed made little
sense.
China warned that the U.S. move would not help cooperation between
the two countries on controlling the spread of weapons of mass
destruction, and demanded that the restrictions be lifted.
"We are strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the U.S.
government sanctioning Chinese companies," the Chinese Foreign
Ministry said. China, it said, " has always adopted a serious and
responsible attitude on the anti-proliferation issue and has
adopted a series of effective measures to strengthen export
management and control."
Included in the latest sanctions are two enterprises closely tied
to the Chinese military: China North Industries, known as Norinco,
and China National Aero-Technology Import & Export, or Catic, a
major producer of military aircraft. The sanctions will have little
practical effect on most of the nine companies named. The Chinese
companies are already barred from doing business with the United
States.
But Adam Ereli, a U.S. State Department spokesman, called the move
"an important and effective tool in constraining Iran's efforts to
develop missile and WMD capabilities," in a reference to weapons of
mass destruction.
"It does have an impact, I think, particularly in alerting
governments to activity taking place in their countries and
instituting measures or taking actions to prevent those kinds of
activities," Ereli said.
Bush administration officials said they had no evidence that
President Hu Jintao or other Chinese leaders were aware of the
sales, and they said Beijing had been helpful in cutting off
shipments of crucial technologies to the Iranians.
While the State Department announcement did not describe the
technology exported to Iran, information that is classified,
officials said none of it specifically dealt with nuclear weapons
or the integration of Iran's nuclear program with its missile
program.
Dan Bilefsky of the International Herald Tribune reported from
Paris and David E. Sanger of The New York Times from Crawford,
Texas. David Lague of the International Herald Tribune contributed
reporting from Beijing.
Published in: International Herald Tribune
http://www.worldsecuritynetwork.com/showArticle3.cfm?article_id=12350&topicID=44
