UPDATE: US Officials: Significant Progress Made On Iran Strategy
01 Dezembro 2010 - 3:50PM
Dow Jones News
Obama administration officials told a U.S. House hearing
Wednesday that the U.S. sanctions strategy against Iran has made
significant progress in isolating Tehran, but warned that vigilance
is necessary to counter sanctions evasion.
Just days ahead of new negotiations with Iran intended to halt
the country's alleged nuclear weapons program, a raft of lawmakers
said they are concerned that violations of the new sanctions
regime--particularly by Chinese companies--may be seriously
undermining international efforts.
"The net result of all of the measures that we've applied in
recent months is substantial," said Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs William Burns told the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs.
Burns and U.S. Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and
Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey pointed to a raft of sanction
successes and told the panel that Washington would continue to
ratchet up sanctions pressure.
Out of seven companies that the State Department had been
particularly focused on probing whether there are violations of
existing sanctions laws, five promised to exit. Burns said several
firms were under official investigation by the State Department
and, while he didn't say if the oil service company Schlumberger
was one of them, he told lawmakers that it's ongoing activities in
Iran are of particular concern.
Burns said ahead of next week's scheduled multilateral talks
with Iran that the "door is still open" for serious negotiations.
There's "still time for diplomacy," he said, but when asked if a
military attack is still under consideration by the administration
he said that no options have been taken off the table.
But lawmakers pressed the administration officials on multiple
reports that several countries, especially China, were helping
Tehran to evade sanctions and taking advantage of opportunities
created by Western companies severing ties with Iran.
Ranking member of the committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (R.,
Fla.), said she's concerned that the administration may repeat a
history of waiving prosecuting companies in violation of sanction
laws.
"The U.S. has known for years about Chinese energy investments
in Iran, but only this past September did the administration
initiate investigations of sanctionable activity yet still refuse
to publicly disclose whether Chinese companies are among the
targets," Ros-Lehtinen said.
Committee Chairman Howard Berman, (D., Calif.), expressed
similar worries: "I'm concerned that we will not be able to sustain
a robust sanctions regime if we don't impose sanctions in an
even-handed manner," particularly highlighting Chinese
companies.
"What kind of message do we send if we fail to sanction
companies that are transparently engaged in sanctionable
activities?" Berman asked Burns and Levey.
Burns said President Barack Obama and his lieutenants are
continuing to press China on its Iran ties at the highest level,
including in Obama's last meeting with Chinese President Hu
Jintao.
The State Department official--the administration's lead
negotiator on the Iran issue--said companies such as Royal Dutch
Shell (RDSA), Total (TOT), ENI (ENI), StatoilHydro (STO), INPEX,
Reliance (532743.BY), and Toyota (TM) had committed to exiting
Iran, many finalizing operations within weeks.
Washington is in a delicate diplomatic position. China, a member
of the United Nations Security Council, is critical of the
administration's efforts to contain Iran's and North Korea's
nuclear ambitions, aside from addressing a long list of other
geopolitical, economic and trade issues. Hu is planning a trip to
Washington in January.
To illustrate the progress of the sanctions, Treasury's Levey
and Burns pointed to an 85% drop in refined petroleum imports in
Iran, down to 19,000 barrels a day in October, a loss of $50
billion to $60 billion in energy investments and increased
difficulties for Iranian companies to conduct business in dollars
and euros.
Given that Iran relies heavily on refined petroleum product
imports and the impact of financial sanctions, Tehran was facing a
political bind internally, needing to cut the gasoline subsidy, but
fearing the political opposition from such an action.
-By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9285;
ian.talley@dowjones.com
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