WarSclerotic

AFP: Canada laments cracks in Iran, Syria sanctions.

OTTAWA — Canada’s top diplomat on Tuesday lamented cracks in the West’s imposing of sanctions on Syria and Iran while also urging Russia and China to get onboard.

“We’d like to see others follow suit with the tough sanctions that Canada has” imposed on Iran, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said one day after new sanctions against the Islamic republic were announced by the United States, Britain and Canada.

On Syria, he added: “We can’t even get a resolution of condemnation, let alone sanctions… through the UN Security Council.”

“That’s regrettable,” he said in comments directed at Russia and China after the two permanent members of the Security Council blocked UN sanctions against Syria.

The new sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran after the publication of the UN nuclear watchdog’s most damning report yet on the Iranian nuclear program.

The measures seek to limit the West’s links with the Iranian Central Bank — which has been key in funneling proceeds of energy sales to Iran’s government.

Iran’s energy sales are thought to account for around 70 percent of the government’s budget and are crucial to the broader Iranian economy.

However, the US government stopped short of adopting fully blown sanctions against Iran’s central bank. And the British measures reportedly will not directly impact trade in Iranian oil.

Canada does not import oil from Iran, but banned sales to Iran’s petrochemical, oil and gas industry.

Iran, already hit with four rounds of UN sanctions, strongly denies its nuclear program is geared towards making a bomb.

Report: Hezbollah considering military coup if Assad falls – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Sources tell al-Arabia network Shiite group planning to ‘seize parts of Beirut’ should Assad’s regime fall for fear of foreign intervention in Lebanon

Roee Nahmias

Turkey’s Erdogan urges Assad to ‘finally step down’ for sake of Mideast peace – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Turkish prime minister says President Assad must go ‘without spilling any more blood’; Syria activists report at least 9 killed by Assad forces in Homs, Hama areas.

By DPA and Reuters

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called on Tuesday for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down for the sake of peace in the region and to stop any more bloodshed.

“Without spilling any more blood, without causing any more injustice, for the sake of peace for the people, the country and the region, finally step down,” Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party.

	Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, in Damascus, Syria last year.
	Photo by: AP

Tuesday saw further violence in Syria, as activists reported that forces loyal to the Assad regime had killed four villagers near Homs. Earlier, an activist based in northern Lebanon said that the Homs area was surrounded by security forces.

“The neighborhood of al-Bayyada area is now completely surrounded by the gangs of (Syrian President Bashar) Assad who are backed by army tanks,” the activist said.

Syria’s state media said that “the Syrian army is carrying out a military operation in the neighborhood in search for “armed gangs who are terrorizing the civilians.”

Syrian troops also reportedly stormed areas on the outskirts of the capital Damascus Tuesday in a search for army defectors, activists based in Beirut told dpa.

The move by the Syrian army came after defectors a week ago attacked a base of the Syrian airforce intelligence.

Meanwhile, sound of heavy machine gun fire was heard across the area of Douma, near Damascus, Syrian activist Omar Ildibi said.

On Monday, 20 people were killed, most of whom were from the al-Bayyada neighborhood, in attacks carried by the Syrian security forces.

Articles: Iran’s Maginot Line.

By Gene Schwimmer

Moscow, Tehran say new US sancti… JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

    Russia’s Foreign Ministry denounced new US sanctions against Iran on Tuesday as “unacceptable and contradictory to international law,” Interfax news agency reported.

The United States, worried by Tehran’s nuclear program, named Iran on Monday as an area of “primary money laundering concern” in a step designed to dissuade non-US banks from dealing with it.

It also blacklisted 11 entities suspected of aiding its nuclear programs and expanded sanctions to target companies that aid its oil and petrochemical industries.

Iran dismissed new sanctions as more a propaganda exercise than something that will hit the economy.

“Such measures are condemned by our people and will have no impact and be in vain,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference Tuesday.

US President Barack Obama said Monday that the United States had identified “the entire Iranian banking sector – including the Central Bank of Iran – as a threat to governments or financial institutions that do business with Iranian banks.”

Obama said Washington would continue to look for ways to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.

“As long as Iran continues down this dangerous path, the United States will continue to find ways, both in concert with our partners and through our own actions to isolate and increase the pressure upon the Iranian regime,” he said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made an official announcement on Monday afternoon detailing the series of new sanctions against Tehran, focusing on Iran’s money-raising activities.

Geithner declared the Central Bank of Iran to be a “primary money laundering concern,” a step short of official sanctions that would require the United States to cut off access to any foreign institution that does business with the bank. That more drastic step would have presented serious problems for US business if states such as China and Russia fail, as they are expected, to cut off ties with Tehran. The new category would simply warn off foreign governments and companies from dealing with Iranian institutions.

Clinton phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday evening to brief him on the sanctions the US decided to level against Iran.

The United Kingdom started off the trans-Atlantic sanctions announcements earlier Monday when the British government announced their decision to terminate all dealings with the Central Bank of Iran, a decision that covers all Iranian banks, branches and subsidiaries.

“This measure will protect the UK financial sector from being unknowingly used by Iranian banks for proliferation related transactions,” said George Osborne, Britain’s treasury chief.

Iran’s nuclear activities “pose a significant risk to the national interests of the UK and countries across the region.”

Since the November 8 publication of the IAEA’s report on Iran, the US has been pushing for international cooperation in policing Tehran’s nuclear production initiatives. Last week’s meeting of the nuclear watchdog organization’s board of governors yielded a statement calling on Iran to open itself to inspectors, but stopped short of major international steps against Tehran’s march toward nuclear armament.

Iranian representatives were conspicuously absent from a two-day meeting in Vienna held to discuss nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East. In the shadow of the recent report slamming Iran’s nuclear aspirations, the IAEA hosted representatives of a number of Middle Eastern states, including Israel, for a discussion on creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the area.

There are already nuclearweapon- free zones in South America, Africa, the south Pacific and parts of Asia.

In addition to the nuclear faceoff and the terror plot targeting the Saudi ambassador to Washington, it looked Monday that there was yet another factor in Washington’s growing tensions with Iran.

The Washington Post revealed Monday that Iran was suspected of having provided former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi with hundreds of artillery shells filled with “highly toxic mustard agent.” These shells, discovered in recent sweeps of Libya by anti-Gaddafi forces, were beyond the purview of the minimal amounts of chemical agents that the US knew that Gaddafi held.

The Washington Post article quoted a senior US official as saying that the US “was pretty sure” that the shells were custom- designed and produced in Iran for Libya.

Washington is also concerned that more than a dozen undercover agents working for the CIA who were caught in both Iran and Lebanon will be or already have been executed, ABC News quoted US officials as saying on Monday.

According to the report, the agents were paid informants, hired by the CIA to spy on Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Many risks lead to wins, but some result in occasional setbacks,” ABC quoted an official as saying. The arrests occurred over the past six months, he added.

The officials gave credit to Iran and Hezbollah for uncovering the two espionage rings, but say sloppy CIA “tradecraft” was also partly to blame for the discovery of the networks.

“We were lazy and the CIA is now flying blind against Hezbollah,” a former official was quoted as saying.

Herb Keinon and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

Obama urges more pressure on Ira… JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

    WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama said on Monday the United States, Britain and Canada were cutting Iran off from its financial systems and encouraged other countries to do the same.

Obama said the United States had identified “the entire Iranian banking sector — including the Central Bank of Iran — as a threat to governments or financial institutions that do business with Iranian banks.”

Obama said Washington would continue to look for ways to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.

“As long as Iran continues down this dangerous path, the United States will continue to find ways, both in concert with our partners and through our own actions to isolate and increase the pressure upon the Iranian regime,” he said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made an official announcement on Monday afternoon detailing the series of new sanctions against Tehran, focusing on Iran’s money-raising activities.

Geithner declared the Central Bank of Iran to be a “primary money laundering concern,” a step short of official sanctions that would require the United States to cut off access to any foreign institution that does business with the bank. That more drastic step would have presented serious problems for US business if states such as China and Russia fail, as they are expected, to cut off ties with Tehran. The new category would simply worn off foreign governments and companies from dealing with Iranian institutions.

Clinton phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday evening to brief him on the sanctions the US decided to level against Iran.

According to a statement put out by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu said, “sanctions like these make clear to the Iranians that there will be a high price if they continue with their nuclear program.”

The United Kingdom started off the trans-Atlantic sanctions announcements earlier Monday when the British government announced their decision to terminate all dealings with the Central Bank of Iran, a decision that covers all Iranian banks, branches and subsidiaries.

“This measure will protect the UK financial sector from being unknowingly used by Iranian banks for proliferation related transactions,” said George Osborne, Britain’s treasury chief.

Iran’s nuclear activities “pose a significant risk to the national interests of the UK and countries across the region.”

The American Jewish Committee was quick to respond to England’s announcement.

“England’s bold initiative to single out the Central Bank of Iran is a much-needed punitive measure to press Iran to stop its nuclear weapons program,” said AJC executive-director David Harris.

“We hope other countries will quickly follow the British lead to enhance the measure’s effectiveness.

Iran’s defiance of the international will must be countered with the strongest possible coordinated efforts to defeat this clear threat to global security,” said Harris.

“Tightening the noose around Iran’s economy is essential to ending Iran’s nuclear program, though ultimately full impact requires the cooperation of China, Russia and other countries that mistakenly continue to do business as usual with Iran.”

Since the November 8 publication of the IAEA’s report on Iran, the US has been pushing for international cooperation in policing Tehran’s nuclear production initiatives. Last week’s meeting of the nuclear watchdog organization’s board of governors yielded a statement calling on Iran to open itself to inspectors, but stopped short of major international steps against Tehran’s march toward nuclear armament.

Iranian representatives were conspicuously absent from a two-day meeting in Vienna held to discuss nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East. In the shadow of the recent report slamming Iran’s nuclear aspirations, the IAEA hosted representatives of a number of Middle Eastern states, including Israel, for a discussion on creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the area.

There are already nuclearweapon- free zones in South America, Africa, the south Pacific and parts of Asia.

In addition to the nuclear faceoff and the terror plot targeting the Saudi ambassador to Washington, it looked Monday that there was yet another factor in Washington’s growing tensions with Iran.

The Washington Post revealed Monday that Iran was suspected of having provided former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi with hundreds of artillery shells filled with “highly toxic mustard agent.” These shells, discovered in recent sweeps of Libya by anti-Gaddafi forces, were beyond the purview of the minimal amounts of chemical agents that the US knew that Gaddafi held.

The Washington Post article quoted a senior US official as saying that the US “was pretty sure” that the shells were custom- designed and produced in Iran for Libya.

Washington is also concerned that more than a dozen undercover agents working for the CIA who were caught in both Iran and Lebanon will be or already have been executed, ABC News quoted US officials as saying on Monday.

According to the report, the agents were paid informants, hired by the CIA to spy on Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Many risks lead to wins, but some result in occasional setbacks,” ABC quoted an official as saying. The arrests occurred over the past six months, he added.

The officials gave credit to Iran and Hezbollah for uncovering the two espionage rings, but say sloppy CIA “tradecraft” was also partly to blame for the discovery of the networks.

“We were lazy and the CIA is now flying blind against Hezbollah,” a former official was quoted as saying.

Herb Keinon and Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

Iran Will Never End Its Nuclear Quest Because It Believes Allah Is Protecting The Country | Fox News.