U.S., Britain warn of more “aggressive” sanctions against Iran
Published: Thursday, May 22, 2008
20:29GMT—4:29PM/EST
U.S. – BRITAIN – IRAN – SANCTIONS – NUCLEAR
Washington, May 22 (IranVNC)—U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Washington and London will pursue more sanctions against Iran if it continued with its uranium enrichment program.
“We will continue to designate entities as we find them trying to use the international financial system for ill-gotten gains,” Rice said, adding: “and we are going to continue to do it aggressively.” Iran should not be able to use the international banking system to transfer gains made from “terrorism or proliferation,” the Secretary said.
The U.S. has designated more than 20 Iranian companies, banks and individuals, making it increasingly difficult for Tehran to conduct international financial transactions, Reuters reported. The United Nations Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program, which the West fears Iran is using to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies this charge, insisting its program is peaceful.
Rice was traveling with visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to California today. Miliband said that Iran should not be seen as a “victim of an international vendetta” because it brought the international community’s actions upon itself.
The two officials also said that this month’s fighting in Lebanon has weakened the Iranian and Syrian-backed group Hezbollah, despite a deal reached Wednesday that gave the militant group veto power in the Lebanese cabinet.
“Hezbollah lost something very important, which is any argument that it is somehow a resistance movement on behalf of the Lebanese people,” Rice said, according to Reuters. The group is “never going to live” down the fact that it turned its guns on its own people, she added.
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press
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