Iran condemns new U.S. sanctions as 'hostile policy' - Haaretz

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Sat., October 27, 2007 Cheshvan 15, 5768

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		U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (AP)

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Iran condemns new U.S. sanctions as 'hostile policy'

By The Associated Press

Iran condemned on Thursday a U.S. move to impose sweeping new sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's defense ministry and a number of banks, the state broadcaster IRIB's Web site reported.

"The hostile policies of America against the respectful Iranian nation and our legal organizations are against international regulations and have no value," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted as saying.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, joined at a State Department news conference by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, said Thursday the steps the Bush administration is taking are designed to punish the Iranians for their support for terrorist organizations in Iraq and the Middle East, missile sales and nuclear activities.

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Rice called the moves - the harshest of their kind since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979 - part of a comprehensive policy to confront the threatening behavior of the Iranians.

But she also said that Washington remains open to a diplomatic solution.

Meanwhile Thursday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday against new international sanctions on Iran, saying they would lead to a dead end.

"Why worsen the situation by threatening sanctions and bring it to a dead end?" Putin said in a veiled reference to the U.S. push for harsher international sanctions on Tehran. "It's not the best way to resolve the situation by running around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand."

Putin said that the standoff around Iran's nuclear program needs to be resolved through patient talks, pointing at North Korea as an example.

"Not long ago it didn't seem possible to resolve the situation with North Korea peacefully but the dispute has been solved," Putin said.

The announcement culminated a series of harsh statements from both sides amid public recriminations both within the administration and the U.S. Congress over Tehran's strategic intentions.

Rice on Thursday, for instance, repeated the administration's concern over statements indicating a desire in Tehran to wipe Israel off the map.

The sanctions will cut off more than 20 Iranian entities, including individuals and companies owned or controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, from the American financial system and will likely have ripple effects throughout the international banking community.

The Quds Force, a part of the Guard Corps that Washington accuses of provided weapons, including powerful bombmaking material blamed for the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and other banks will be identified as specially designated global terrorist groups for their activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East, the officials said.

Rice said the new sanctions will provide a powerful deterrent for companies in the United States and abroad to sever business relationships with Iran.

Paulson said that Iran channels millions of dollars a year to help bankroll terrorist acts.

"It is increasingly likely that if you are doing business with Iran you are doing business with the IRGC," Paulson said, referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The sanctions also cover three Iran state-owned banks, including Bank Melli.

The actions mean that any assets found in the United States belonging to the designated groups must be frozen. Americans are also forbidden from doing business with them.

Importantly, the designations also put companies outside the United States on notice that doing business with the designated groups could be a problem.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a House committee on Wednesday that the administration shares Congress' goal of making sanctions tougher on Iran and declared that activities in Iraq by the Quds Force "are inconsistent with the Iranian government's obligations and stated commitment to support the Iraqi government."

"This is going to be a broad and wide-ranging effort," The New York Times quoted a senior official as saying. "We will be freezing assets and there will be ripple effects of where we can go from there."

"This is a very powerful set of measures designed to send a message to Iran that there will be a cost to what they do," an official told the Washington Post, which was the first to report the development. "We decided on them because we have seen no change in Iranian behavior. Our diplomacy needs to be stronger and more effective."

The United States has long labeled Iran as a state supporter of terrorism and has been working for years to gain support for tougher sanctions from the international community aimed at keeping the country from developing nuclear weapons.

The sanctions announced Thursday are unilateral, however, and are believed to be the first of their type taken by the United States specifically against the armed forces of another government.

The Revolutionary Guards, formed to safeguard Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has pushed well beyond its military roots, and now owns car factories and construction firms and operates newspaper groups and oil fields.

Current and former members now hold a growing role across the country's government and economy, sometimes openly and other times in shadow.

The guards have gained a particularly big role in the country's oil and gas industry in recent years, as the national oil company has signed several contracts with a guards-operated construction company. Some have been announced publicly, including a $2 billion deal in 2006 to develop part of the important Pars gas field.

Now numbering about 125,000 members, they report directly to the supreme leader and officially handle internal security. The small Quds Force wing is thought to operate overseas, having helped to create the militant Hezbollah group in 1982 in Lebanon and to arm Bosnian Muslims during the Balkan wars.

The Bush administration accuses the Quds Force of sending fighters and deadly roadside bombs, mortars and rockets to kill American troops in Iraq in recent years - allegations that Iran denies.

Related articles:

Livni behind closed doors: Iran nukes pose little threat to Israel

As Iran's largest trading partner, some EU members seek to up pressure

Editorial: Putin appeases Tehran

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1.	Revolutionary Guards	13:36	\|	JonathanInTelAviv	25/10/07

2.	It is time, indeed, it is high time that sanctions against Iran	13:42	\|	Markus	25/10/07

3.	The cabal can huff and puff,Iran isn`t concerned!	14:01	\|	lakshmi	25/10/07

4.	Sanctions trump attacl strategy	14:08	\|	Natallie Durson	25/10/07

5.	Lakshmi - Calling The US "The Great Terrorist"	15:00	\|	Eli	25/10/07

6.	Lakshmi`s gleeful sense of Iranian invulnerability.	15:14	\|	Fortuna Benmayor	25/10/07

7.	Gulf of Tonkin Incident coming	15:44	\|	Clickfool	25/10/07

8.	Why so late?	15:45	\|	Jonathan S	25/10/07

9.	ClickFOOL afraid his buddies will lose	16:14	\|	Jonathan S	25/10/07

10.	Fortuna Ben Mayor	16:32	\|	Lynn	25/10/07

11.	Propaganda and Muscle Trump Diplomacy	16:35	\|	joebhed	25/10/07

12.	AT least it`s better than war	16:39	\|	Steve	25/10/07

13.	#8	16:40	\|	kraut	25/10/07

14.	american palabras	16:51	\|	scanadu	25/10/07

15.	Revolutionary Guards was a terrorist organisation already in 1979	16:51	\|	Not blind	25/10/07

16.	Who is the threat...Realy?	16:55	\|	Cool B	25/10/07

17.	For Lakshmi on Iran being unconcerned	16:59	\|	Darth Zaider (Ed)	25/10/07

18.	For Jonathan S, who hungers for war with Iran # 9	17:37	\|	Clickfool	25/10/07

19.	Lakshmi horses for courses	17:39	\|	Margie in Tel Aviv	25/10/07

20.	5Eli,Fortuna Mayor&Darth Zaidar,hey Eli that was to be expected	17:46	\|	lakshmi	25/10/07

21.	Jonathan S, Germany from 2.6 billion in 2006	17:52	\|	Lynn	25/10/07

22.	joebhed	17:58	\|	Lynn	25/10/07

23.	# 7 Clicky	18:00	\|	Lynn	25/10/07

24.	Those rules are solemly for the europeans	18:17	\|	Kris	25/10/07

25.	To Lynn, # 10	18:24	\|	Fortuna Benmayor	25/10/07

26.	#22 Lynn	18:34	\|	kraut	25/10/07

27.	Lynn - Haliburton Has to Change Banks?	18:43	\|	Mark of Lewiston	25/10/07

28.	Lynn backatcha	18:44	\|	joebhed	25/10/07

29.	The attack is coming	19:00	\|	Garba	25/10/07

30.	# 4 Wrong, Fatmah, attack is comming....	19:03	\|	Misha	25/10/07

31.	Kraut	19:09	\|	Lynn	25/10/07

32.	3 arsonists caught so far in california-police looking for more	19:10	\|	yahn goodey	25/10/07

33.	# 27 Mark of Lewiston	19:11	\|	Lynn	25/10/07

34.	The No bid contracts are ready!	19:14	\|	Nobid Man	25/10/07

35.	joebhed	19:25	\|	Lynn	25/10/07

36.	Very very good. It is time!!!	19:34	\|	Petra	25/10/07

37.	Concerns of a clickfool	19:43	\|	Tzabar	25/10/07

38.	Fear Mongering Really Works	19:43	\|	Garba	25/10/07

39.	ClickFOOL is concerned about Israel	19:58	\|	Jonathan S	25/10/07

40.	The US admin is the mother of TERROR	20:21	\|	Sam(UK)	25/10/07

41.	Rice`s admission US can`t afford a war with Iran.	20:57	\|	Michael	25/10/07

42.	33 Lynn - Iran is a Haliburton Client	21:03	\|	Mark of Lewiston	25/10/07

43.	Najad wish came true america is playing his cards	22:56	\|	iranian Papsito	25/10/07

44.	For Lynn # 23	23:11	\|	Clickfool	25/10/07

45.	For Garba # 29	01:05	\|	Fortuna Benmayor	26/10/07

46.	33 Lynn - Iran is a Haliburton Client (2nd try)	01:08	\|	Mark of Lewiston	26/10/07

47.	For Darth Zaider (Ed) # 17	01:12	\|	Fortuna Benmayor	26/10/07

48.	Lynn, Sanction the Saudis??	02:53	\|	joebhed	26/10/07

49.	yahn goodey Re: Fox Video Clip	06:12	\|	Yosemite	26/10/07

50.	Its payback time,Remember the hostages for 444 days?	04:49	\|	cristo	27/10/07

51.	And, Remember Operation Ajax	16:15	\|	joebhed	27/10/07

52.	lakshmi # 3 so your saying iran isn`t developing nukes?	23:20	\|	terrornator	27/10/07

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