@@ Jewish groups press for Iran sanctions @@
- From: "Arash" <A7000@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:24:31 -0400
Jewish Forward
September 23, 2005
Jewish Groups Press for Iran Sanctions
By Ori Nir
letters[AT]forward.com
Washington ?As Washington struggles to secure world support for slapping
international sanctions on Iran over its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, Jewish
organization are stepping up their efforts to trigger a crackdown on Tehran.
Israeli activists in Washington are pressing Congress to tighten American sanctions
on Iran. And last week, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, Jewish
communal leaders in New York urged world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, to act against Tehran.
The appeal to Singh ? to support American and European efforts to bring the issue of
anti-Iran sanctions before the United Nations Security Council ? came after a meeting
earlier this month between Jewish communal leaders and U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice. At the meeting, Rice expressed frustration with India's refusal to
support American and European policy on Iran.
Washington is trying to convince India, as well as Russia and China, to join in
adopting an international hard line against Iran's nuclear ambitions. Sources told
the Forward that the Jewish activists who met with Rice took her comments as a plea
to use their influence with India's government and urge it to cooperate with the Bush
administration.
The assistant national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Kenneth Jacobson, who
attended the powwow with Singh, reported that the result of the meeting with the
Indian leader was disappointing.
Manmohan Singh "expressed a reluctance to rush towards the Security Council",
Kenneth Jacobson told the Forward. "We were left feeling that there was a long way to
go before getting his government to be willing to support" referring Iran's nuclear
program to the Security Council.
Jewish communal leaders reported similar disappointment with Russia's foreign
minister, Sergei Lavrov. "We weren't very happy with him either," Jacobson said. "He
didn't give us any indication that Russia was going to support" a Security Council
resolution for Iran's nuclear program.
Other meetings that Jewish communal leaders had in New York last week with foreign
leaders also focused on Iran's nuclear ambitions and on the prospects of reining them
in through international sanctions.
In his speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
reportedly called for the creation of a committee to investigate Israel's nuclear
activities. He unequivocally affirmed his country's intention to continue enriching
unranium ? over American and European objections ? although he said the nuclear fuel
is being produced for peaceful purposes, not to make a bomb.
The Iranian leader made the statements after effectively breaking off negotiations
with European Union representatives aimed at resolving the international crisis over
Tehran's nuclear program.
A referral to the Security Council requires a consensus among board members of the
International Atomic Energy Agency. Currently such a consensus does not exist.
Russia, China, Brazil and the agency's director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, all
oppose an immediate referral of the Iranian case to the Security Council. The
agency's board of governors is composed of 35 member states, with 14 belonging to the
Non-Aligned Movement. These representatives met this week to adopt a collective
position. According to reports from the agency's headquarters in Vienna, 12 out of
the 14 nonaligned countries opposed the referral.
The Bush administration and its European allies are rushing to secure an early
referral before this month's election of the organization's next board. The election
is expected to result in the inclusion of even more nonaligned states.
"We think time is running out", Kenneth Jacobson said. "We think there is a certain
never-never-land quality to all of this. We will wake up one day, and we will find
that we're stuck" with a nuclear Iran.
Meanwhile, Israeli lobbyists on Capitol Hill are cajoling members of Congress to
support the Iran Freedom Support Act, which would expand the existing American
sanctions on companies that invest more than $20 annually in Iran's oil and gas
sectors. The bill would tighten sanctions on companies that invest in Iran's energy
industry in the hopes of blocking money that could be used to produce nuclear arms.
The bill also provides for assistance to pro-democracy forces within Iran, and
funding for independent media broadcasts to the country. The House of
Representatives' Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, and Howard Berman, a
California Democrat, are sponsoring the proposed legislation. The sponsors of the
Senate version are Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Evan Bayh, an
Indiana Democrat.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Washington's Israeli lobby, has
made pushing for sanctions on Iran its number-one priority in recent months.
"Iran is rapidly approaching the point of no return, and in order to prevent it from
acquiring nuclear weapons, concerted diplomatic and economic pressure must be
imposed," AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said. "Stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear
weapon should be a priority for anyone who is concerned about stability in the Middle
East". http://www.forward.com/main/printer-friendly.php?id=4004
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