http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/30-2
Published on Friday, November 30, 2012 by Common Dreams
Senate Unanimously Passes New Round of Sanctions on Iran
Sanctions "badly hurting the poor," affecting food staples for Iranians
- Common Dreams staff
The Senate unanimously voted on Friday to approve a new round of
economic sanctions on Iran. While touted as being "tough" on Iran,
the sanctions are set to bring further misery to the country,
especially the poor.
The 94-0 vote passed on an amendment attached to the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.
The sanctions are portrayed by politicians, in the EU and Israel as
well as the US, as an attempt at thwarting Iran's supposed nuclear
weapons programs, but Iran has maintained its nuclear program is only
for civilian purposes.
"By passing these additional measures ending sales to and
transactions with Iranian sectors that support proliferation -
energy, shipping, ship-building and port sectors as well as with
anyone on our specially designed national list - we will send a
message to Iran that they can't just try to wait us out," U.S.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who sponsored the amendment, said on
Friday.
Iran war hawk Sen. John McCain added on the Senate floor before the
vote: "The screws need to be tightened. The centrifuges are still
spinning in Tehran."
In a sign of further misery to come to the Iranian people with this
newest round of sanctions, Reuters reported earlier this week on how
the already-in-place sanctions were "badly hurting the poor and
turning some staples into luxuries," affecting food and medicines.
Reuters reports:
An increasingly shaky state apparatus will struggle to fill the gap
often left by private companies, analysts say.
"If you are talking about the number of deals needed for a country of
75 million ... you do not have an organized overall strategy for
finance, purchase and distribution. I do not think they can cope with
the challenge," said Scott Lucas, a specialist in Iranian affairs at
Birmingham University.
"Even if the sanctions were lifted, which is a huge if, the problems
in the system are now so endemic I think they face real serious
structural problems." [...]
Nevertheless, many foreign foods are hard to find and high prices
mean Iranians cannot always afford even basic items. [...]
International trade sources say Iran is also having to grapple with a
banking freeze, which has led to private traders cutting imports of
staples such as grain and sugar.
In addition, national security analyst Gareth Porter points out that
the recent IAEA report on Iran's 20% low enriched uranium, cited by
Menendez in his remarks on the floor Friday, was misleading and
widely misinterpreted. Porter adds that
Iran has been suggesting both publicly and privately throughout 2012
that it is open to an agreement under which it would halt all
20-percent enrichment and agree to other constraints on its
enrichment program in return for relief from harsh economic sanctions
now levied on the Iranian economy.
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