SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Senate Unanimously Passes New Round of Sanctions on Iran
Sanctions "badly hurting the poor," affecting food staples for Iranians
Nov 30, 2012
The Senate unanimously voted on Friday to approve a new round of economic sanctions on Iran. While touted as being "tough" on Iran, the sanctions are set to bring further misery to the country, especially the poor.
The 94-0 vote passed on an amendment attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.
The sanctions are portrayed by politicians, in the EU and Israel as well as the US, as an attempt at thwarting Iran's supposed nuclear weapons programs, but Iran has maintained its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes.
"By passing these additional measures ending sales to and transactions with Iranian sectors that support proliferation -- energy, shipping, ship-building and port sectors as well as with anyone on our specially designed national list -- we will send a message to Iran that they can't just try to wait us out," U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who sponsored the amendment, said on Friday.
Iran war hawk Sen. John McCain added on the Senate floor before the vote: "The screws need to be tightened. The centrifuges are still spinning in Tehran."
Sen. John McCain: "The screws need to be tightened."In a sign of further misery to come to the Iranian people with this newest round of sanctions, Reuters reported earlier this week on how the already-in-place sanctions were "badly hurting the poor and turning some staples into luxuries," affecting food and medicines.
Reuters reports:
An increasingly shaky state apparatus will struggle to fill the gap often left by private companies, analysts say.
"If you are talking about the number of deals needed for a country of 75 million ... you do not have an organized overall strategy for finance, purchase and distribution. I do not think they can cope with the challenge," said Scott Lucas, a specialist in Iranian affairs at Birmingham University.
"Even if the sanctions were lifted, which is a huge if, the problems in the system are now so endemic I think they face real serious structural problems." [...]
Nevertheless, many foreign foods are hard to find and high prices mean Iranians cannot always afford even basic items. [...]
International trade sources say Iran is also having to grapple with a banking freeze, which has led to private traders cutting imports of staples such as grain and sugar.
In addition, national security analyst Gareth Porter points out that the recent IAEA report on Iran's 20% low enriched uranium, cited by Menendez in his remarks on the floor Friday, was misleading and widely misinterpreted. Porter adds that
Iran has been suggesting both publicly and privately throughout 2012 that it is open to an agreement under which it would halt all 20-percent enrichment and agree to other constraints on its enrichment program in return for relief from harsh economic sanctions now levied on the Iranian economy.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Senate unanimously voted on Friday to approve a new round of economic sanctions on Iran. While touted as being "tough" on Iran, the sanctions are set to bring further misery to the country, especially the poor.
The 94-0 vote passed on an amendment attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.
The sanctions are portrayed by politicians, in the EU and Israel as well as the US, as an attempt at thwarting Iran's supposed nuclear weapons programs, but Iran has maintained its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes.
"By passing these additional measures ending sales to and transactions with Iranian sectors that support proliferation -- energy, shipping, ship-building and port sectors as well as with anyone on our specially designed national list -- we will send a message to Iran that they can't just try to wait us out," U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who sponsored the amendment, said on Friday.
Iran war hawk Sen. John McCain added on the Senate floor before the vote: "The screws need to be tightened. The centrifuges are still spinning in Tehran."
Sen. John McCain: "The screws need to be tightened."In a sign of further misery to come to the Iranian people with this newest round of sanctions, Reuters reported earlier this week on how the already-in-place sanctions were "badly hurting the poor and turning some staples into luxuries," affecting food and medicines.
Reuters reports:
An increasingly shaky state apparatus will struggle to fill the gap often left by private companies, analysts say.
"If you are talking about the number of deals needed for a country of 75 million ... you do not have an organized overall strategy for finance, purchase and distribution. I do not think they can cope with the challenge," said Scott Lucas, a specialist in Iranian affairs at Birmingham University.
"Even if the sanctions were lifted, which is a huge if, the problems in the system are now so endemic I think they face real serious structural problems." [...]
Nevertheless, many foreign foods are hard to find and high prices mean Iranians cannot always afford even basic items. [...]
International trade sources say Iran is also having to grapple with a banking freeze, which has led to private traders cutting imports of staples such as grain and sugar.
In addition, national security analyst Gareth Porter points out that the recent IAEA report on Iran's 20% low enriched uranium, cited by Menendez in his remarks on the floor Friday, was misleading and widely misinterpreted. Porter adds that
Iran has been suggesting both publicly and privately throughout 2012 that it is open to an agreement under which it would halt all 20-percent enrichment and agree to other constraints on its enrichment program in return for relief from harsh economic sanctions now levied on the Iranian economy.
The Senate unanimously voted on Friday to approve a new round of economic sanctions on Iran. While touted as being "tough" on Iran, the sanctions are set to bring further misery to the country, especially the poor.
The 94-0 vote passed on an amendment attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.
The sanctions are portrayed by politicians, in the EU and Israel as well as the US, as an attempt at thwarting Iran's supposed nuclear weapons programs, but Iran has maintained its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes.
"By passing these additional measures ending sales to and transactions with Iranian sectors that support proliferation -- energy, shipping, ship-building and port sectors as well as with anyone on our specially designed national list -- we will send a message to Iran that they can't just try to wait us out," U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who sponsored the amendment, said on Friday.
Iran war hawk Sen. John McCain added on the Senate floor before the vote: "The screws need to be tightened. The centrifuges are still spinning in Tehran."
Sen. John McCain: "The screws need to be tightened."In a sign of further misery to come to the Iranian people with this newest round of sanctions, Reuters reported earlier this week on how the already-in-place sanctions were "badly hurting the poor and turning some staples into luxuries," affecting food and medicines.
Reuters reports:
An increasingly shaky state apparatus will struggle to fill the gap often left by private companies, analysts say.
"If you are talking about the number of deals needed for a country of 75 million ... you do not have an organized overall strategy for finance, purchase and distribution. I do not think they can cope with the challenge," said Scott Lucas, a specialist in Iranian affairs at Birmingham University.
"Even if the sanctions were lifted, which is a huge if, the problems in the system are now so endemic I think they face real serious structural problems." [...]
Nevertheless, many foreign foods are hard to find and high prices mean Iranians cannot always afford even basic items. [...]
International trade sources say Iran is also having to grapple with a banking freeze, which has led to private traders cutting imports of staples such as grain and sugar.
In addition, national security analyst Gareth Porter points out that the recent IAEA report on Iran's 20% low enriched uranium, cited by Menendez in his remarks on the floor Friday, was misleading and widely misinterpreted. Porter adds that
Iran has been suggesting both publicly and privately throughout 2012 that it is open to an agreement under which it would halt all 20-percent enrichment and agree to other constraints on its enrichment program in return for relief from harsh economic sanctions now levied on the Iranian economy.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy