Word: iranian
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Could the U.S. block sales of refined gasoline to Iran as a way of ratcheting up pressure on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian regime? That's a prospect U.S. politicians have talked up for months. But as the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China prepare for crucial talks with Iran in Geneva on Oct. 1, there's a growing realization that the strategy might not work. "The hype around blocking gas is hugely overdone," says Richard Dalton, who was British ambassador to Iran until 2006 and is now an associate fellow at the London think tank Chatham House. "People...
...that early talk gave Iran time to prepare for new sanctions. Earlier this year, it began importing far more than it was using. Intelligence consultancy Stratfor noted last week that Iran has probably stockpiled at least three months' worth of gasoline. The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Co. estimates that the country has some 15.7 million bbl. of gasoline - about four months' worth - stockpiled in tankers on land and off its Persian Gulf coast. After BP and Reliance halted exports to Iran, Chinese state-owned oil companies filled the gap, supplying about one-third of Iran's gasoline imports...
...deeply a new batch of sanctions against Iran would cut, particularly since the U.S. needs Moscow and Beijing as signatories if it wants the initiative to pack a punch. Russia and Iran have shared economic interests, and according to some estimates, China has some $100 billion tied up in Iranian oil and gas reserves. Both countries have been unwilling to rebuke their strategic partner in the past. A watered-down set of sanctions might be disappointing to those, like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who want to "cripple" Iran. But they wouldn't be out of the ordinary...
...revelations that Iran had concealed a secret uranium-enrichment facility near the holy city of Qum, the U.S. began working international back channels to gauge support among its allies for a fresh round of sanctions against Tehran. While the U.S. and U.N. have sanctions in place against the Iranian finance sector as well as travel and trade restrictions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Obama Administration was investigating how to "broaden and deepen" the measures, while Defense Secretary Robert Gates noted the menu of potential punishments was a "pretty rich list to pick from" - including the suspension of investments...
...announced that its Revolutionary Guards had conducted new tests of medium- and short-range missiles - a sign that the threat of further sanctions didn't seem to have made much impact. For one thing, Iran has been dealing with such restrictions since the Islamic revolution in 1979. For another, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is probably in on the open secret about economic sanctions: they don't really work. Attempts to economically isolate troublemaking nations are the leech treatments of international diplomacy: traditional cure-alls that, though well-intentioned, rarely force regime change or prompt significant policy shifts, particularly when done...