The United States and the European Union recently announced additional sanctions on Iran for its alleged nuclear programs. The announcements came only weeks after the United Nations Security Council also adopted new sanctions on Iran.
The U.S. and European imperialists claim that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program in violation of the U.N. non-proliferation treaty, to which Iran is a signatory member. In fact, Iran’s nuclear programs are for energy purposes, and in complete compliance with the NPT.
The new sanctions are a clear attack on Iran’s national sovereignty and are designed to weaken the country’s ability to defend itself from foreign intervention.
This round of sanctions focuses primarily on military purchases, trade and financial transactions. Forty Iranian companies and organizations have been identified, 15 connected to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and 22 involved in nuclear and ballistic missile development. The sanctions also authorize searches of ships for a wide array of allegedly suspected weapons. (New York Times, June 19)
Iranian leaders have responded defiantly. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will not make “one iota of concessions.” (Al Jazeera, June 17) One day before the U.S. announcement, Iran declared it would build four new reactors to expand its atomic research.
Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, condemned the U.N. Security Council’s sanctions as illegal and based on false allegations and has warned that it would respond to any threats on its national security.
“The resolution proved that the United Nations Security Council cannot be an appropriate source to protect people’s rights and security,” the agency said in a statement. (New York Times, June 19)
Other countries declared varying degrees of support for Iran against the newest sanctions. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev criticized sanctions that go beyond those approved by the U.N. Security Council. Turkey and Brazil voted against the sanctions, while Lebanon abstained.
United States, Israel and European states in violation, not Iran.
The imperialists routinely claim, without proof, that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. However, hundreds of International Atomic Energy Agency inspections have shown no evidence of a weapons program or conversion of uranium to weapons grade. U.S. intelligence sources have also confirmed this.
In 2007, a National Intelligence Estimate representing the consensus view of all 16 U.S. spy agencies concluded that Iran halted its nuclear weapons programs in 2003. (New York Times, Dec. 3, 2007)
The two distinct technologies—low-grade uranium refinement for energy purposes and high-grade weapons refinement—are fraudulently equated to intentionally confuse public opinion on the matter.
Last fall, the United States, Britain and France claimed to have detailed evidence that Iran was building a covert uranium enrichment facility near the city of Qom. However, Iran had already declared the new facility in a letter to the IAEA four days earlier. The letter reported that the new facility would be used for uranium enrichment for civilian purposes and would become operational in 18 months, a year ahead of NPT reporting requirements. The provisions of the NPT require signatories to declare uranium enrichment sites six months before coming online.
The United Nations Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons allows any country to develop nuclear material for energy and receive the assistance of the nuclear countries to do so, provided they do not refine fissionable material beyond energy-grade (3-5 percent) to weapons-grade (over 85 percent). (Washington Examiner, Sept. 29, 2009)
There are five states officially recognized as possessing nuclear weapons by the NPT—the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China. All are all signatories of the NPT and are therefore obligated to assist Iran in developing nuclear energy capabilities. The United States, Britain and France each have significant arsenals of nuclear weapons, ready to be deployed within minutes. All three are in violation of the NPT, which requires nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear weapons.
The U.S. military has thousands more nuclear weapons than any other military in the world. It is in additional violation of the NPT by developing new nuclear weapons and threatening to use them, rather than working towards global disarmament as per NPT terms.
Israel, India and Pakistan are not signatories of the NPT but are known to possess significant arsenals of nuclear weapons. Israel alone has an estimated 200 nuclear warheads. Their nuclear programs, however, are never questioned or criticized because they have repeatedly demonstrated themselves to be sufficiently compliant to U.S.-led imperialist interests.
The United States has maintained hostile relations with Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution, when U.S. imperialism lost one of its most important client states in the resource-rich Middle East. In 1953, as punishment for nationalizing Iranian oil, the United States and England colluded to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iran, installing a puppet regime led by the Shah. For the next quarter of a century, the country was brutally ruled by the Shah and his secret police, the Savak, with full U.S. support.
In 1979 the Iranian people overthrew the U.S. puppet regime and renationalized their oil resources, infuriating western imperialism. Since that time, every U.S. administration has attempted to weaken Iran in any and all ways possible, including attempts at regime change, military threats and, of course, repeated rounds of sanctions.
The goal is to ultimately replace the Islamic Republic of Iran with a U.S. client state willing to open up the country to the domination of foreign capital, making its vast oil and gas reserves available for plunder by big oil.
The destruction of an independent Iranian state and its replacement with a U.S. client state would be disastrous for the Iranian people and for the worldwide struggle against imperialist domination. All progressive and revolutionary forces in the United States must stand with Iran and in opposition to all threats by U.S-led imperialism. Hands off Iran!
