Iran threatens the ‘peace and security of us all’, says David Cameron

January 24th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Eight new financial institutions will be added to an existing list of Iranian
entities subjected to asset freezes in the EU. Their identities will be
disclosed on Tuesday. However, Bank Tejarat, the last Iranian bank with a
sizeable operation in the EU, is understood to have been included for the
first time.

The final details of any measures taken against this bank are unclear. They
are expected to be complex in order to minimise any disruption to legitimate
trade: EU exports to Iran still totalled £9.5 billion last year. But any
restrictions could have significant consequences.

“The downside to the EU in placing Tejarat on the asset freeze list is
that this will make it more difficult moving forward to track the flow of
funds going to and from Iran,” said Nigel Kushner, chief executive of
Whale Rock Legal, which advises on sanctions and export controls. “This
will be driven underground through international money exchanges, private
financiers and barter deals.”

The oil embargo follows over six months of negotiations designed to cushion
the highly indebted Mediterranean members from any damage. Greece, Italy and
Spain import 450,000 barrels of Iranian crude every day, often on
preferential terms. To fill the gap, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are expected to
increase their own output.

The sanctions will also be reviewed on 1 May and the imposition of a full
embargo could be delayed if supply problems are encountered.

Iran responded on Thursday by repeating its threat to close the Strait of
Hormuz, a vital link in the global oil supply chain. Mohammed Ismail
Kowsari, deputy chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security
committee, said the waterway “would definitely be closed if the sale of
Iranian oil is violated in any way.”

Ivo Daalder, the US ambassador to Nato, sent a conciliatory signal, saying: “We
are ready at any time to sit down with them and have a conversation about
how to resolve this issue through negotiation. Increasing the isolation of
Iran is designed to confront it with a fundamental choice, between either
finding a way to cooperate to find a resolution to this issue ..or choosing
the path of further isolation.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, offered a guarded welcome,
describing the EU’s decision as a “a step in the right direction”.
However, he also expressed concern that the oil embargo would be phased in
over six months, noting that time was of the essence in constraining Iran’s
nuclear ambitions.

One Israeli official said the latest measures were qualitatively different
from any that had gone before. “With these sanctions, the EU has now
moved into a regime change dynamic in the sense that the Iranian government
now faces questions over its survival if it persists in its nuclear
programme,” the official said. “But the EU is still behind the
curve because, although the sanctions are crippling, by the time they bite
it may be too late and Iran will have passed the threshold.”