French foreign minister: France must be ready for Iran war

Interesting statement from the French...

They've also advised French firms not to business in Iran...interesting.

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said yesterday his country had to prepare for the possibility of war against Iran over its nuclear programme, but added that he did not believe any such action was imminent.

Seeking to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, Mr Kouchner also told RTL radio and LCI television that the world's main powers should use further sanctions to show they were serious about stopping Tehran getting nuclear weapons, and said France had asked French firms not to bid for tenders in the Islamic Republic.

"We must prepare for the worst," Mr Kouchner said in an interview, adding: "The worst, sir, is war."

Netanyahu: squeeze Iran with sanctions

As usual, he talks sense.

"We cannot wait for them [Iran] to obtain nuclear weapons; we must prevent it now. This has to be the focus of all responsible countries," opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday.

"The military option must stay on the table, but countries like the US and some in Europe must squeeze Iran with sanctions, voluntary sanctions - not through the UN," Netanyahu said at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism's Seventh Annual Conference at IDC Herzliya.

"The UN is paralyzed from launching effective sanctions. They can do a lot to bring economic pressure on the Iranian regime," he added.

Netanyahu suggested to "focus on the 20 to 30 European countries that prop up the Iranian oil and gas sector."

Dresdner stops doing business in Iran, but not without protest

That's good news, especially considering it's a large German bank. The whole article can be found here, with excerpts below.

And the Islamic Republic's central bank is protesting...

Dresdner Bank has decided to wind up its remaining business in Iran, a spokesman for the German bank said on Tuesday.

"We are winding down our business in, with and to Iran," the spokesman said, adding that the administrative costs of doing business in Iran had become too high.

Dresdner, part of German insurer Allianz, has been scaling back its activity in Iran for months.

US chides allies for trade deals with Tehran

The full thing can be found here.

America's allies must do more to cut commercial and energy ties with Iran if the international campaign to halt Tehran's nuclear-weapons programs is to succeed, a top State Department official said yesterday.

R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said the U.S.-led drive to sanction Iran's economy through the United Nations is being undercut when allies in Europe, Turkey, India, Japan and South Korea continue to make lucrative trade deals and even offer credits to businesses trading with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The United States lost its major holdings in Iran after the 1979 revolution and has had only very limited trading since, Mr. Burns said.

France summoned the Iranian regime's charge d'affaires

More positive signs coming out of France, but unlikely they'll actually do anything (in policy or action against the mullahs)...they're getting too much free oil still.

The charge d'affaires was summoned by the ministry Wednesday at the request by Rama Yade, French minister of state in charge of foreign affairs and human rights, according to a ministry statement.

During the meeting, "we took the opportunity to express our extreme preoccupation and underscored our opposition to the death penalty, our commitment for its universal abolition, our commitment to see that Iranian authorities uphold the 2002 moratorium against stoning, our appeal that no one should be condemned to stoning," according to the statement.

France condemns the execution of 12 Iranians, which occurred on July 22 and is "particularly concerned" with the fact that on July 10 an Iranian official announced that sexual orientation was one of the charges brought against those who were executed, according to the statement.

On July 5, 2007, an Iranian man was condemned to die by stoning after being convicted of adultery, according to the same source.

Shell's Iran venture to continue...after all

The Telegraph had another report on Shell's dodgy Iran dealings. Looks like they're going to continue supporting the mullahs (for economic reasons, of course).

Royal Dutch Shell's chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said there were no plans to halt preparatory work on possible investments in Iran, despite renewed pressure about the risks of operating in a country where America has imposed economic sanctions.

Shell CEO says economics, not politics, are delaying Iran deal

Sure, it's 'economics'...right Jeroen, we believe you.

It wouldn't be because "US pension funds ask Shell to scrap £5bn Iran project"

The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell Plc said rising industry costs and negotiation on deal terms had delayed a planned multi-billion dollar investment in Iran, rather than the threat of sanctions. "It is primarily project reasons ... are the reasons for delay," Jeroen van der Veer told a conference call with reporters.

Shell has been in talks for years about building Iran's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which would be fed by the giant South Pars gas field.

Iran faces possible UN sanctions on investment because of its nuclear programme, which Washington says is a cover for the search for an atomic bomb.

It has already been subjected to limited UN sanctions and U.S. sanctions. Van der Veer said Shell would consider the political environment when it had agreed a viable technical plan -- made more difficult by the U.S. sanctions which preclude the use of products or services from U.S. oil service corporations.

Santander gets nailed

The big European bank is doing business with blacklisted Iranian banks...details here and below.

Santander, one of Europe's biggest banks, has been trading with an Iranian bank that is blacklisted by the US for allegedly financing nuclear proliferation.

Santander, Spain's largest bank and the owner of Abbey in the UK, was doing business with Teheran-based Sepah as recently as March, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Trading with businesses that are blacklisted for alleged links to terrorism is a serious breach of US law and can have draconian consequences....

...The treasury spokesman said: "We've been meeting with our government counterparts, as well as financial institutions, throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East to discuss the risks of doing business with Iran."

British banks fight US over Iran embargo

They want to do business with the mullahs, just like they always have...and the City of London views the US approach as a great bit of annoyance. They don't care where there money comes from, or how many innocent people die because of it at the end of the day. They're banks - their job is to make profits. I have a feeling the US will have more success with HSBC because it has significant US-based operations which the US can leverage against it if things get dirty...

The Guardian has the story...

A mounting US crackdown on foreign companies and banks doing business with Iran is provoking serious opposition in the UK and Europe, where diplomats are warning that the action could lead to a new trade war.

Congress wants all international companies to end their investment in Iran now and is pushing through a bill that would penalise companies that fail to do so. The British government, along with other European governments, views the US approach as draconian and are lobbying hard against it.

The US move reflects frustration at the failure so far of western diplomacy to persuade Iran to stop its uranium enrichment programme, which the US, Britain and others suspect is a step towards achieving a nuclear weapons capability. Iran denies it has ambitions to build a nuclear weapon.

A senior British banking source said today there was a great deal of annoyance in the City with the US approach. The two British banks most frequently mentioned in Washington in relation to Iran are HSBC and Standard Chartered.

50 German firms smuggled nuclear material to Iran

Always suspected it, and now it's coming out...NCRI reports. How does this not make bigger news? Oh yeah, I forgot who controls the Western media for a second...

German prosecutors on Thursday said they are investigating some 50 companies suspected of smuggling technology to Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant via Russia.

Berlin-based company Vero is suspected of having smuggled material to build the nuclear reactor through Poland to Moscow, from where it was taken to Iran, said Christoph Lange from the prosecutor's office in Potsdam near Berlin.

He said Vero appeared to have been buying up nuclear technology in Germany and elsewhere in Europe since 2000 at the orders of Russia, which is constructing Iran's first nuclear power plant in the town of Bushehr.

Lange said prosecutors have so far only traced material worth about five million euros (6.8 million dollars), but that this appeared to be the tip of the iceberg. Up to 150 million euros' worth of material may have left Germany for Iran, he estimates.

Good for Bulgaria

They've imposed an arms embargo on Iran.

Bulgaria’s Cabinet has decided to put an arms embargo on Iran, Liberia and Somalia.

The embargo will be in accordance with a resolution by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the opinion of the Council of the European Union, Focus news agency reported.

The international community introduced a series of restrictions on Iran and the arms embargo is a consequent restriction, Focus said.

Total doing more business wih the mullahs

Hopefully it will fail. The FT reports.

U.S., Britain drafting stricter Iran sanctions

Like what?

"Iran, if you do something naughty again, we will write an ultimatum which says that if you do something naughty in the future we will issue an even more heated statement." ?

Well, apparently this will (finally) be more serious. Proposed measures include: travel bans on top military & security officials, cargo inspections of flights and ships, ban on the importing & exporting of arms, freeze certain assets, etc. Sounds promising, but we'll have to wait and see I guess.

The story can be found here.

The United States and Britain are preparing drafts for a punishing new U.N. resolution against Iran that could impose sweeping travel bans on the country's top military and security officials, require inspections on its cargo flights and ships, forbid all import and export of arms shipments, and freeze the assets of major Iranian banks, according to U.S. and European officials.

The new Security Council resolution would be the third against Iran for failing to comply with a U.N. resolution demanding a freeze of Tehran's uranium enrichment program. That program produces peaceful nuclear energy but could also be subverted to develop the world's deadliest weapon.

The U.S. and British drafts, which overlap in many places, are designed to greatly ratchet up the pressure on Tehran. The two previous resolutions, in December and March, imposed limited sanctions that have had marginal impact.

"This one can't just be another piece of paper. It has to have some bite to it," said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because discussions are ongoing. "The notion that it is serious communicates something important."

Israel says: watch human rights abuses in Iran

Well, the West is watching. But for Europe, it is simply 'not in their interests' to report these kind of things. Just call up their journalists and ask them. That's the answer you'll get. Then the real research begins...the search to find why it's not in their interests. So the reply to the ambassador's plea below is: Yes, they can. And they are. Other recent 'protests' along these lines include:

• Iran, Genocide, and Human Rights: Is the UN Any Use at All? (blogcritics)
• Iran jails activists and gags dissent (The Australian)

Israel said it sent letters to the U.N. secretary-general and the president of the General Assembly urging the international community to speak out against human rights abuses in Iran.

"The international community cannot be silent in situations where the violation of human rights is systemic, grave, and widespread, and where states dismiss issues of human rights and refuse to engage in meaningful dialogue,'' Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Daniel Carmon said Friday.

France expels Iranian suspected of ties to nuclear drive

You're fired!

Alan: "You know, Farshad, I wanted to give you a chance. But we know you're working with the regime, and we know we have a new president, and he has said he's going to be tough on your mullahs, so I gotta do what I gotta do, so, Farshad...you're fired! It's a shame, becuase you were really talented and a nice guy. Maybe you can get a job over in the States...I'll put you in touch with some of my people."

France has expelled a 28-year-old Iranian engineering student suspected of links to the country's nuclear programme, the Le Parisien daily reported Thursday.

The student, Farshad Mobasher Fard, was detained Monday when he appeared at a police station to reapply for his residence permit, and was expelled on Wednesday.

The newspaper said French authorities declined to specify the reasons for the expulsion, with the court documents saying only Fard's "presence in France represents a threat to public order" and citing a UN resolution that bans travel of people connected with the country's controversial nuclear programme.

Tehran blocks Iranian-French journalism student's exit

Reporters Without Borders is on the case. They wouldn't pull another Kazemi now, would they? You can never be sure with the mullahs.

An Iranian-French journalism student is being prevented from leaving Iran after spending a month in jail for interviewing opposition members, Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday.

Mehrnoushe Solouki has been under de facto house arrest in Tehran since March when she was freed from Tehran's Evin prison where she was interrogated and confined to a cell with a permanently-lit neon light, the group said.

Solouki, a doctoral student in Montreal, Canada, had obtained permission from Iranian authorities to produce a documentary film on the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war, said Ajar Smouni, a spokeswoman for Reporters Without Borders.

Well, at least they have the right idea

As I've pointed out numerous times, the fundamental problem of the Iranian opposition movement is the fact that it has been divided (and conquered) from the word 'go', and if you go to the top of any of them, there are always un-genuine characters purporting to support one thing but really aiming for another (namely disunity).

At least this group of different factions in Paris has managed to achieve some unity, if only on paper. Not that it's likely to achieve much of anything, but hey, it's an effort. I wish all the opposition groups would wake up and smell the coffee.

But the other main problem is that there is no clear leader whom everyone would support. And without that it's difficult. You can read about the Paris meeting here and here.

The organizing document for the conference declares: "We consider the system of Islamic Republic incorrigible and we think that the establishment of democracy in Iran is conditional upon the abolishment of that regime."

The Iranian regime has "created a wall of separation between the Iranian people and the international community," said one of the organizers, U.K.-based Hossein Bagherzadeh, who left Iran in 1981, two years after the Islamic revolution. "The Iranian people want to join the free world; the free world must respond," he said.

Following less diverse meetings in Berlin in 2005 and London in 2006, this conclave brought together, in some cases for the first time, Iranian-born exiles from a wide array of beliefs and affiliations — some of whom have in past years been at each other's throats, and in some cases on each other's hit lists.

Participants came from places as far-flung as Canada, America, Europe and in a few cases from inside Iran itself. Some had tales of relatives murdered by the regime; some had been beaten and imprisoned before leaving the country. One man lifted his pants leg just enough to show the scars on his ankles from torture at the hands of the Islamic regime. The assembly included leftists, monarchists, ethnic minorities, former student leaders and former adherents of the Islamic regime. There were plenty of women; some wore skirts. There was not a veil in sight...

Video: Bush support in Albania + 'Stolen' Mickey Mouse watch

Albania welcomes Bush

They have been firm supporters of the 'War on Terror' and opened Dubya with welcome arms. Probably one of the only countries in Europe left that would do so, and for that, I applaud them. This has picked up a little coverage in the MSM, and is also discussed very briefly on Harry's Place.

Bush turns the table on Kyoto and the Europeans

As most of you have probably read in the press over the past few days, Bush has finally come up with his own plan for the environment. To the displeasure of the Europeans, it goes against the Kyoto Protocol, and targets the top 15 greenhouse-gas emitters (countries like China and India), which is a big point. As the editors at the NRO point out in their recent article, one of the obvious (yet unspoken points) about the Kyoto Protocol was to weaken the US economy, but this may redefine and broaden the debate...one can hope. Good for Bush on this one - too bad he can't be this strong on more pressing matters, such as the current Iranian regime. The NRO article begins like this.

From the early days of the Kyoto Protocol, one of the not-so-hidden agendas of the Europeans was to use climate-change agreements to hobble the American economy, so much so that even the Clinton administration felt compelled to push back. Now, with President Bush politically weak and relentless fearmongering over climate “catastrophe,” this week’s G-8 meeting has been shaping up as another attempted mugging of Uncle Sam. Tony Blair is triumphant in his pronouncements that “there’s a change in mood in America,” making possible “a new binding international agreement to come into effect when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 . . . one which is more radical than Kyoto and more comprehensive.”

President Bush’s announcement last week that he will convene a conference of the Big 15 greenhouse-gas emitters is a fair bid to turn the tables on the Europeans and slam the door on Son of Kyoto. As the New York Times put it: “For six years, Europeans have pleaded with President Bush to seize the initiative in the campaign against global warming. Now that he has, many [in Europe] are even more frustrated.”

Bush has firmly rejected hard emissions caps and international tradable-emissions schemes (cap and trade). In his recent remarks, he emphasized that emerging nations such as China and India should be able to set their own emissions goals relative to their economic circumstances, and press above all for technology transfer. Translation: Any realistic greenhouse-gas-emissions program will have to recognize that developing nations such as China and India must grow. This is true also of the U.S., whose economy continues to expand even as Europe stagnates. At least for the intermediate term, the emissions of such nations will grow too. By proposing to convene the Big 15 emitters under U.S. leadership, Bush threatens to eclipse the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which brought us Kyoto. Not bad for a day’s work.