http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0701/S00092.htmWednesday, 10 January 2007, 10:33 pm
U.S. Iran Tensions Rise as Second American Aircraft Carrier Heads to Persian Gulf
Interview with Trita Parsi, president of the Iranian-American Council, conducted by Scott Harris
After months of tense negotiations, the United Nations' Security Council voted unanimously Dec. 23rd to impose limited economic sanctions against Iran for that nation's refusal to halt its uranium enrichment operation. The council voted to block all countries from selling technology and equipment that could assist Iran in developing its nuclear research and missile capabilities. In addition, the U.N. froze the assets of 10 Iranian corporations and 12 individuals linked to its nuclear and missile programs. Iranian officials responded defiantly, vowing to continue their enrichment of uranium and warning of future changes in their relationship with the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency.
With the Bush administration's decision to dispatch a second aircraft carrier group to the waters off the Iranian coast and the recent arrest by U.S. soldiers of four Iranian diplomats inside Iraq, tension between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be on the rise as the new year began. At the same time that Bush rejected the Iraq Study group's recommendation for opening talks with Iran over the situation in Iraq, the rushed execution of Saddam Hussein threatened to escalate violence between the majority Shiite and minority Sunni population.
Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian-American Council, who looks at the increasing tension between the U.S. and Iran in the context of the continuing American occupation of Iraq.
TRITA PARSI: I think the sanctions resolution that was passed in the Security Council is not going to be that important in terms of the actual pain it can impose on Iran. Rather, the importance of the sanctions are two-fold. On the one hand, the international community has, through the Security Council, basically blessed the idea of sanctioning Iran under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter. That's important for the United States, (which) wants to take much firmer action against Iran. That in turn, has given an air of legitimacy to the real sanctions that the United States is imposing currently on Iran through its financial sector. The U.S. is putting a tremendous amount of pressure on Iran and on foreign banks not to deal with Iran. And those sanctions, I think, are going to have far more of a financial cost to Iran than the sanctions passed by the Security Council.