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Swiss-Iran gas deal under attack

DUBAI: Opposed by Israel and the U.S., the multi-billion dollar Iran-Switzerland gas deal signed last month has now come under attack from an influential U.S. based Jewish interest group.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has targeted Switzerland for the deal, under which Iran will supply Europe 5.5 billion cubic metres of gas annually by 2012.

The ADL, whose aim is to “stop the defamation of the Jewish people,” criticised Switzerland through advertisements placed in well-known newspapers on Tuesday. These advertisements blamed Switzerland of supporting terrorism because the deal would strengthen Iran.

ADL officials were quoted as saying that the deal would provide Iran with additional resources to pursue its nuclear programme and arm anti-Israel groups such as the Lebanese Hizbollah.

An advertisement in the Wall Street Journal Europe claimed Switzerland was “bankrolling the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism.” One in The International Herald Tribune called Switzerland “the world’s newest financier of terrorism.” Similar ads appeared in The New York Times and The New York Sun, apart from a few Swiss dailies.

Dismissing the campaign, the Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed on Wednesday that the government was not involved in the deal. The agreement did not violate law as it “is in full conformity with the existing U.N. sanctions against Iran,” as well as the Iran Sanctions Act of the U.S., he said.

Besides, at least 10 other countries were party to major energy deals with Iran, including Japan, France and Italy, he said.

The deal was signed on March 17 between the state-owned National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and Swiss company EGL. Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, who was present at the signing ceremony, was criticised in the West for wearing a head scarf during her meetings with Iranian officials.

The U.S. embassy in Bern had earlier said the deal “violates the spirit of the sanctions” imposed on Iran by the U.N. Security Council, aimed at halting Tehran’s uranium enrichment programme. Analysts say Switzerland went ahead with the deal only after the National Intelligence Estimates of the U.S. concluded that Iran had ceased its atomic weapons programme in 2003.

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