European Union foreign ministers have formally adopted an oil embargo against Iran over its nuclear programme, banning all new oil contracts with the country, while also freezing the assets of Iran’s central bank in the EU. Iran has called the sanctions “unfair” and “doomed to fail.”
The Council of the European Union said in their conclusions from the Foreign Affairs Council Meeting in Brussels, January 23 2012 that “the recent start of operations of enrichment of uranium to a level of up to 20% in the deeply buried underground facility in Fordow near Qom further aggravates concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme.”
Last November, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, said in a report that it had information suggesting Iran had carried out tests “relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.”
The EU currently buys about 20% of Iran’s oil exports. Oil is the country’s most valuable asset. A decision by the EU to stop buying from Iran may damage the Iranian economy but will not destroy it; Iran sells most of its oil to countries in Asia. The EU and the United States are now working to persuade Asian countries to reduce their purchases from Iran as well.
The measures were “another strong step in the international effort to dramatically increase the pressure on Iran”, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.
“European officials and other countries which are under America’s political pressure […] should consider their national interests and not deprive themselves of Iran’s oil to help US officials achieve their secret aims,” Mr. Mehmanparast, the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said. He accused the US of trying to create “problems with energy supply requirements in countries which are America’s economic rivals.”
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for energy purposes, and denies that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says talks and not sanctions are the only way to resolve the dispute; however, the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said that world powers had yet to receive a reply to an offer made to Iran in October to hold new talks.
“It’s beyond dispute Iran is developing nuclear weapons and lying about it,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told CBC News chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge.
Iran had “failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme,” British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement. “We will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Iran has already threatened to retaliate by blocking the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, through which 20% of the world’s oil exports pass. The US has said it would keep the trade route open, raising the possibility of a confrontation. Late last year Iran conducted 10 days of military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, test-firing several missiles. Oil prices have risen already because of the increasing tension and the expected impact of the EU ban on oil supplies to Europe.
The objective of the EU is to achieve a long-term settlement with Iran that would build international confidence in the peaceful nature of their nuclear programme, while respecting Iran’s legitimate rights to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper shared a controversial opinion with Peter Mansbridge: “In my judgment, these are people who have a particular, you know, a fanatically religious worldview, and their statements imply to me no hesitation about using nuclear weapons if they see them achieving their religious or political purposes. And […] I think that’s what makes this regime in Iran particularly dangerous.”
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has referred to Iran several times as the world’s greatest threat to peace and security.
