U.S. to Impose New Sanctions Targeting Iran's Military

[leftchick]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews


By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 25, 2007; Page A01

The Bush administration plans to roll out an unprecedented package of unilateral sanctions against Iran today, including the long-awaited designations of its Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and of the elite Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism, according to senior administration officials.

The package, scheduled to be announced jointly by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., marks the first time that the United States has tried to isolate or punish another country's military. It is the broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy, the officials said.


"This is a very powerful set of measures designed to send a message to Iran that there will be a cost to what they do. We decided on them because we have seen no change in Iranian behavior," said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the measures have not yet been announced. "Our diplomacy needs to be stronger and more effective."

The move caps a year of growing U.S. pressure on Tehran, including billions of dollars in arms sales to Persian Gulf allies and Israel, interception of Iranian arms shipments in Iraq and Afghanistan, detention of Iranian agents in Iraq, and pressure on the United Nations and European allies to increase Iran's isolation. The dramatic U.S. steps underscore the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.

"The policies of Iran constitute perhaps the single greatest challenge for American security interests in the Middle East, and possibly around the world, because the combination of Iranian terrorism, Iranian repression at home and the pursuit of nuclear weapons technology -- technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon -- is a very dangerous mix," Rice said yesterday in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The new sanctions will empower the United States to financially isolate a large part of Iran's military and anyone inside or outside Iran who does business with it, U.S. officials said. The measures could affect hundreds of foreign companies by squeezing them to drop Iranian business or risk U.S. sanctions.

The Revolutionary Guard Corps, which numbers at least 125,000, is the most powerful wing of Iran's military. It controls a growing sector of the economy, including construction companies, aspects of the oil industry, pharmaceutical plants, telecommunications and ordinary commerce. U.S. officials said it also operates the front companies that procure nuclear technology.

[sweetheart]

As the oil price increasingly transfers the remaining wealth from the US to the
oil producing states in asia; they'll find a way to spend it on bullets to defend
from encroaching imperialist thieves.

For a while it was planetary - it was star trek; the cold war was over and we had
a chance to embrace the whole planet for a new type of century.... but it was
not to be; greedy cowardly despots reduced it to petty nationalism
on the back of a doped-up overpopulation of non-individuals incapable of
thought outside of their brainwashing schools; rats running on the wheel
just enough for another fix.. tell me its still star trek.

[whatshername]

I don't think we will be treated this time to the "Countdown to War" digital timer clocks that were displayed on our televisions in March of '03.

[leftchick]

the bombs will have been dropped before our great media gets a clue.

[Saigon68]

Courtesy of the War Criminal Chimp

[leftchick]

It is great to see you again. :)

And if the chimp doesn't drop them you can be 100% sure the neocons hillary or mitt will be more than happy to for AIPAC/Israel. We are fucked. :(