New sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program
On June 9, 2010, for the fourth time in less than five years, the UN Security Council passed sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. These sanctions were immediately denounced and rejected by the Iranian president, Mr. Ahmadinejad. The new sanctions were passed by twelve of the fifteen Security Council members. Lebanon abstained, and Turkey and Brazil, who signed a uranium exchange agreement with Iran at the end of May 2010, voted against it. In an article in the International Herald Tribune, Celso Amorim, the Foreign Minister of Brazil, explained Brazil’s stance on the issue.
Former major powers must take into account emerging efforts to manage not only the Iranian issue, but also other decisions of the Security Council and the G20. “You have to go beyond the aging and inefficient US-inspired diplomacy,” confirms Alexander Kateb in Le Monde. “Continual harassment of the Iranian regime is reminiscent of the months preceding the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At that time, the U.S. government sought to convince its public and its NATO allies of the inevitability of armed intervention.” This argument has some merit because Iran has not yet closed its doors to negotiation. According to L’Orient Le Jour, Iran will punish countries that supported sanctions by reducing the amount of mineral it exports to them. One can question the effectiveness of these sanctions, because the Iranian regime is still resisting them. Ronan Bergman, of the right-wing Israeli newspaper Yedot Ahranot, believes that these sanctions are not ridiculous and that they will certainly hinder the economic development of Iran. However, sanctions seem insufficient to shake the regime.
The four selected articles are:
- « Iran : l'impasse des sanctions », par Alexandre Kateb, Le Monde, 11 juin 2010
- « L’Iran décidé à punir les pays qui ont voté pour les sanctions » par la rédaction de L’Orient Le Jour , 16 juin 2010
- « Don’t belittle the sanctions » par Ronen Bergman, Yediot Aharonot, 10 juin 2010
- « Let’s hear from the new kids on the block », par Celso Amorim, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères du Brésil, International Herald Tribune, 15 juin 2010
