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Sanctions doomed to fail: Iran

DUBAI: Iran has dismissed the American decision to impose fresh sanctions as an expression of hostility towards Tehran and as a move that was doomed to failure.

“The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country’s legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and, as in the past, doomed to failure,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini. He called the Bush administration’s accusation that Iran was arming Shia militants in Iraq “ridiculous”.

On Thursday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards. It singled out the elite Quds division of the Guards as a “terrorist” organisation, holding it responsible for covert operations abroad. The Americans have accused the Quds division of supporting the Lebanese Hizbollah and other groups in West Asia.

The sanctions also covered three Iranian banks, Bank Melli and Bank Mellat, for alleged weapons proliferation, and Bank Saderat, for its role as “a terrorist financier.” Besides, American restrictions covered eight individuals and many other companies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced the sanctions, while China said on Friday that that the measures could increase tensions over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Meanwhile, a top U.S. diplomat accused Russia and China of supporting Iran. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told B.B.C. that Russia should stop exporting weapons to Iran, while China should curb investing in the country.

With tensions between Washington and Tehran on the rise, Iranian officials are threatening to stop the on-going Iran-U.S. dialogue on Iraq. Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki said on Wednesday that talks with the U.S. could begin only if there was a change in Washington’s policy towards Iraq and the region.

The Ambassadors of the U.S. and Iran last met on August 6 for their third round of security talks on Iraq. Two earlier rounds of their negotiations were held in Baghdad on May 28 and July 24.

On Thursday Mr. Mottaki also warned that chances of nuclear talks between Iran and the West were dim unless Iran’s “rights” were recognised. The U.S. and its allies are citing the halt of nuclear enrichment by Iran as a precondition for talks.

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