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[StephanieVanbryce]

Obama clears sanctions to squeeze Iran

Sanctions aimed at squeezing Iran's oil exports

BEN FELLER and JULIE PACE,Associated Press
AP SOURCE Published: Friday, 30 Mar 2012, 1:34 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Friday he was plowing ahead with potential sanctions against countries that keep buying oil from Iran, including allies of the United States, in a deepening campaign to starve Iran of money for its disputed nuclear program.

The world oil market is tight but deep enough to keep the squeeze on Iran, Obama ruled.

The sanctions aim to further isolate Iran's central bank, which processes nearly all of the Iran's oil purchases, from the global economy. Obama's move clears the way for the U.S. to penalize foreign financial institutions that do oil business with Iran by barring them from having a U.S.-based affiliate or doing business here.

Obama's goal is to tighten the pressure on Iran, not allies, and already the administration exempted 10 European Union countries and Japan from the threat of sanctions because they cut their oil purchases from Iran. Other nations have about three months to significantly reduce such imports before sanctions would kick in.

Still, administration officials said that Obama is ready to slap sanctions on U.S. partners and that his action on Friday was another signal.

At issue for Obama was ruling, by Friday, whether oil supplies were sufficient to keep demanding that nations cut off Iran — not an insignificant matter in a time of high election-year gas prices at home.

Obama gave his OK after considering available reserves, increased oil production by some countries and global economic conditions. The White House emphasized that he would continue to keep an eye on the oil market to make sure that it — and its consumers — could withstand shrinking purchases out of Iran.

With oil prices already rising this year amid rising tensions over the nuclear dispute between Iran and the West, U.S. officials have sought assurances that pushing countries to stop buying from Iran would not cause a further spike in prices.

The U.S. sanctions are set to take effect on June 28. A European oil embargo, approved in January, starts in July.

Put together, Obama administration officials contend Iran is about to face its most severe economic pressure ever.

The United States imports no oil from Iran.

The main importers of Iranian oil that have not received exemptions from the U.S. are China, India, Turkey, South Africa and South Korea. The administration would be loath to hit a close friend like South Korea or India, or a NATO ally like Turkey, with sanctions, and is working with those countries to reduce their imports.

Turkey announced Friday it was shrinking oil imports from Iran by 20 percent, apparently bowing to pressure from the United States and the sanctions threat.

U.S. officials hope ratcheting up economic pressure will both push Iran to abandon its nuclear program and convince Israel to give sanctions time to take hold before pursuing a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

The U.S. and allies believe that Iran is pursuing a nuclear bomb; Iran denies that.

Obama's diplomatic squeeze on Iran comes with strong bipartisan support from Congress, which approved the sanctions plan as part of a defense bill in December.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who co-authored the sanctions legislation with Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, said he welcomed Obama's support in targeting Iran's Central Bank.

"Today, we put on notice all nations that continue to import petroleum or petroleum products from Iran that they have three months to significantly reduce those purchases or risk the imposition of severe sanctions on their financial institutions," Menendez said.

He predicted most countries would cut their purchase of oil from Iran, either out of fear of sanctions or a shared fear over the Iran's pursuit of nuclear weaponry.

The United States has not said precisely what constitutes a significant reduction in Iranian oil purchases — that is, the bar countries must meet to avoid penalties.

Administration officials said Friday they determine that on a case-by-case basis.

Domestic and foreign policy concerns have complicated the administration's decision to pursue the oil sanctions.

Oil experts testifying before a Senate panel on Thursday said tensions over Iran were already contributing to the high prices Americans were paying at the pump. And additional sanctions could drive up the price more in a tight market.

___

Pace reported from Burlington, Vt. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Dina Cappiello contributed to this report.

Copyright Associated Press, Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.wdtn.com/dpps/news/politics/whitehouse/ap-source-says-obama-clears-sanctions-to-squeeze-iran-wd12-jgr_4121427

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Another reference for YOU: Barack Obama's latest sanctions against Iran designed to cut its oil exports

President's move to punish Iran is designed to pressure nation into abandoning nuclear program and keep Israel at bay

Ewen MacAskill in Washington Friday 30 March 2012 16.10 EDT

President Barack Obama gave the go-ahead Friday for the tightest sanctions yet against Iran's oil industry, a move that risks pushing fuel prices even higher ahead of the November elections and raising tensions even further with Tehran.

The US will take punitive measures against any country that fails to reduce oil imports from Iran. These countries include China.

The sanctions were passed by Congress in December, but the lawmakers left Obama to make the final judgement about the impact a reduction in Iranian oil would have on the US and the world economy. The deadline was Friday.

In a statement from the White House, Obama said he decided that though oil supplies are tight, there are enough non-Iranian supplies to allow countries to reduce imports from Iran.

In a briefing by the administration ahead of the announcement, an official said these amounted to the toughest sanctions yet against Iran.

It is an extremely dangerous move by the White House, one acknowledged by vice-president Joe Biden who, speaking at an election fundraiser in Chicago on Thursday night, said that Obama's re-election chances could be scuppered by events in the Gulf.

"I don't think we'll be beaten by those [Republican] candidates," Biden said. "I think we'll be beaten – if we are – by something happening in the Eurozone or something happening in the Gulf, which could be difficult for us … But even with that I feel good."

Israel is publicly threatening to launch an air strike against Iran's nuclear facility. The US, Israel, Europe and other countries claim Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons capability, which Tehran has denied.

The Obama administration says it is pressing Israel to hold back on an air strike to allow sanctions to work.

Until now, Iran has been able to shrug off sanctions against specific individuals, groups and banks but it is heavily dependent on oil exports. Tehran could react two ways: by retaliating or by caving in, suspending its uranium enrichment programme that the West says could lead to a nuclear weapons capability.

In his statement, Obama said the oil market had become increasingly tight in the first two months of the year and blamed disruption in South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria and the North Sea. "In addition, international concerns over Iran's nuclear activities and recent steps taken to reduce the amount of Iranian crude oil and petroleum product imports are contributing to an increased demand for non-Iranian crude oil," he said.

"Nonetheless, there currently appears to be sufficient supply of non-Iranian oil to permit foreign countries to significantly reduce their import of Iranian oil."

He added that many buyers of Iranian oil had already reduced their oil imports or were in discussion with alternative suppliers.

The sanctions are due to come into effect on 28 June. The EU is due to impose an Iranian oil embargo on 1 July.

The Obama administration exempted 10 European countries from punitive measures for importing Iranian oil, including Britain, France and Germany, as well as Japan because they had already begun reducing imports. The onus is on China, India, South Korea and other countries also importing Iranian oil to demonstrate to the US they are also reducing imports. Failure to do so could mean the US targetting foreign financial institutions, barring them from operating in America.

The original sanction legislation, passed unanimously by the Senate, was co-authored by Democratic senator Bob Menendez, who said in a statement Friday: "Today, we put on notice all nations that continue to import petroleum or petroleum products from Iran that they have three months to significantly reduce those purchases or risk the imposition of severe sanctions on their financial institutions." He predicted most countries would comply.

The National Jewish Democratic Council, which is normally supportive of Obama, welcomed the move. Its president, David Harris, said: "Today's announcement marks the latest major step that this president has taken to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, and we are truly grateful for his decisive action."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/30/iran-sanction-obama-israel-banks

Omar Khayyam (71)

Now that the rose of your
good fortune is blooming,
why are you standing there
with no glass in your hand?
Have some wine–
fate is a treacherous enemy,
And a day like this
is hard to come by.



Translated by Juan Cole
from [pdf] Whinfield 71
http://ia700409.us.archive.org/26/items/quatrains1883omaruoft/quatrains1883omaruoft.pdf