Iran: Sanctions stunt backfires on imperialism
Efforts by Washington to
retard Iran’s economic development, undermine her sovereignty and isolate her
from the community of nations are backfiring badly. The passage on 9th June of
a watered-down sanctions resolution at the UN, hailed by Iran’s enemies as an international endorsement of Washington’s illegitimate challenge to the right
of small nations to choose their own energy policies, has only served to
highlight the failure in reality of US imperialism to whip the rest of the
world into line.
The UN resolution, curbing certain financial
transactions and arms deals, is only of decisive value for Washington if it can
serve as cover for a series of additional sanctions invented by Washington itself. The plan is to use the borrowed authority of the UN to serve as a phony
pretext for the US to declare economic war on any country that buys Iran’s oil
and gas or sells her back refined petroleum. The signs are, however, that US imperialism can no longer count upon the ready compliance of other countries with its arrogant
unilateral diktats. Both Turkey and Brazil, whose proposals for a nuclear fuel
swap deal to break the diplomatic jam were contemptuously dismissed by the US, voted against the sanctions resolution. And whilst both then gave wary formal assent to the
diluted resolution, a comment from Turkey’s finance minister revealed the true
state of play: “We will fully implement UN resolutions, but when it
comes to individual countries’ demands for extra sanctions, we do not have
to,”
The fact is that fear of US bullying is
increasingly being countered by fear of the economic consequences of allowing
this piratical interference to foul up normal trading relations with the
Persian Gulf. As the global overproduction crisis grows sharper, such
considerations acquire greater urgency. Total, for example, along with other
European refiners confronted with the loss of their lucrative export market in
the Persian Gulf, are now facing their lowest returns on processing crude since
December.
Similarly the decision of India’s Reliance Industries to buckle to US pressure and stop supplying petrol to Iran means that company must now suffer crippling shipping costs to switch its export to the USA instead. Meanwhile Iran has been spurred into developing her own refining capacity,
assisted by her neighbours, most notably China.
Where not so long ago the imperialist media were
triumphantly pointing at the acquiescence of Russia and China with the
sanctions resolution as a great diplomatic coup, the mood has grown a lot
gloomier of late, best summed up by the Bloomberg 9th August headline wailing “Iran
Sanctions Leave China, Russia as Winners in Trade”. Whilst cracks run
through the anti-Iran lobby, it seems that neighbourly economic relations
appear to be flourishing across the region as never before. The Bloomberg
report anguishes that “Sanctions punishing Iran for its nuclear program are
deepening the country’s ties with China and handing Russia opportunities to
sell more gasoline while hurting suppliers in Europe and India”. China’s Vice Premier, speaking after talks with
Iranian officials in Beijing concerning Chinese help in developing Iran’s own refining capacity, confirmed that China is Iran’s main economic partner. Meanwhile,
Bloomberg quotes a representative of Moscow’s Chamber of Commerce announcing on
29th July that Russian companies are discussing “serious deliveries” to
Iran in late August or September. Just to complete this tale of woe for Obama,
Aljazeera reported on 13th August that Russia is now set to start
loading fuel into Iran’s first nuclear power plant. The plant, constructed by Russia in Bushehr, had been the subject of lengthy diplomatic wrangling, with Washington piling on
the pressure to stop the commissioning. This represents a major step on the
road to energy independence for the Iranian nation.
There was a striking indication of the degree to
which US control over affairs in Iran’s immediate neighbourhood is slipping on
5th August when Tehran hosted a meeting of Persian-speaking countries, attended
by representatives from Iran Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Given that Afghanistan remains under illegal occupation by American and British troops and its “president” is a
puppet installed by NATO, it was somewhat remarkable that Karzai not only
attended the Tehran meeting but even joined with Ahmadinejad and the Tajik
president in announcing their support for peaceful nuclear energy! Whatever
double game Karzai was playing, Ahmadinejad spoke the unvarnished truth when he
said that cooperation among the three countries was essential, adding that “Those
who came to this region from Europe, NATO forces or others who are in our
proximity, do not like to see Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan… develop and
that is why these three countries are under such pressure.”
In Afghanistan, it will be the anti-imperialist
resistance that opens the path to development. Meanwhile the Iranian
revolution has its own development agenda clear: develop nuclear power so as to
(a) free up more of Iran’s oil and gas for export in the medium term and (b)
secure her energy needs in the longer term in the event of fossil fuel
depletion. At the same time Iran’s refining capacity is to be developed with
Chinese help, and exploitation of existing resources of crude oil will be
extended with the assistance of Turkish and other companies. Unfazed by all the
aggressive rhetoric from the US, Iran plans to construct a third uranium
enrichment plant by next spring, in addition to the sites at Natanz and Qom.
Iran continues to face down all of imperialism’s
provocations with a calm refusal to accept any infringement on her independence
and sovereignty. Iran, unlike nuclear-armed Israel a willing signatory of the
Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has made it plain that she will not accept any
restrictions upon nuclear development over and above those stipulated in the
NPT. Indeed, a recent law explicitly forbids the government to go beyond the
NPT provisions, and also instructs it “to reciprocate, one way or another,
in dealing with countries which inspect Iranian vessels”.
Let the USA and Israel take note.