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The subscription-based intelligence news service Geostrategy-Direct.com is reporting that the U.S. is going to stop placing sanctions on Iranian companies involved in WMD and ballistic missile work, after concluding they aren’t working. “The officials said the new Obama administration of has decided to end sanctions against Iranian government agencies or companies that aid Teheran’s missile and nuclear program. The officials said Israel has been informed of the new U.S. policy…’We were told that sanctions do not help the new U.S. policy of dialogue with Iran,’ an official said…” “…A U.S. defense source said the White House would no longer enforce...

As originally being reported by TheObamaFile.com, the new Administration is in the process of lifting sanctions against the terrorist-sponsoring countries of Syria and Iran, and Democrats have introduced a bill in Congress to allow practically unrestricted travel to Cuba. From JihadWatch.org: Syria has been listed by the State Department as among the State Sponsors of Terrorism since December 29, 1979. Is Obama going to remove that designation? On what grounds? “Obama preparing to lift sanctions against Syria,” from the World Tribune, February 9 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm): NICOSIA — President Barack Obama has decided on a new U.S. ambassador to...

They said Hof would be authorized to facilitate an expansion of U.S. relations with Syria, which deteriorated under President George Bush. In 2005, the United States withdrew its ambassador to Damascus in wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria was blamed for the car bombing in Beirut in which Hariri and many of his bodyguards were killed. The sources said Obama sent emissaries to Syria in September 2008 and pledged that if elected he would reconcile with the regime of President Bashar Assad. After his election victory, they said, Obama sent another message that promised...

Ten international banks, including British-based Lloyds laundered "billions of dollars" for Iran through New York banks, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced Friday. According to a report in the New York Daily News, the scheme helped Iran turn its dirty money into greenbacks, which it could then use to buy goods prohibited by international sanctions.

ROME Petroleumworld.com, December 22, 2008 Iran is using its warm relations with Venezuela to dodge UN sanctions and use Venezuelan aircraft to ship missile parts to Syria, an Italian newspaper reported Sunday. Citing US and other Western intelligence agencies, La Stampa said Iran is using aircraft from Venezuelan airline Conviasa to transport computers and engine components to Syria for use in missiles.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced that it is revoking the "U-turn" license for Iran, further restricting Iran's access to the U.S. financial system. Treasury's move today follows a series of U.S. government actions to expose Iranian banks' involvement in the Iranian regime's support to terrorist groups and nuclear and missile proliferation. Prior to today's action, U.S. financial institutions were authorized to process certain funds transfers for the direct or indirect benefit of Iranian banks, other persons in Iran or the Government of Iran, provided such payments were initiated offshore by a non-Iranian, non-U.S. financial institution and only...

WASHINGTON -- Iranian American supporters of the effort to bring democracy to Iran are raising concerns about the resurgence of Senator Kerry's campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, questioning the role of a Kerry fund-raiser who wants to normalize ties with Tehran. Hassan Nemazee, an Iranian American financier based in New York, was on the board of the American Iranian Council when that organization arranged for President Clinton's secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, to apologize for America's role in the 1953 coup that brought the Shah to power in Iran. Kerry’s campaign seemed in disarray after he fired his...

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<p>A founding member of the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois met in New York City tonight with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.</p> <p>Jodie Evans, who co-hosted Obama's first major fundraiser in Hollywood in February 2007 just after Obama announced his candidacy and is a top fundraiser and donor to Obama's campaign, led a delegation of leftist anti-American groups that held a private meeting near the United Nations. The stated purpose of the meeting was to "serve as an opening for diplomatic resolution" to prevent war between Iran and the United States.</p>

<p>Russia made clear Saturday that it opposes a Western push for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.</p> <p>Russia spoke out against a fourth round of UN sanctions against Teheran at a meeting of the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany in Washington on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said.</p>

TEHRAN: International sanctions against Iran over its nuclear drive are hitting trade costs, the head of the country's chamber of commerce said in remarks published on Tuesday. "Imposing these costs does not mean cutting Iran's trade relations with other countries ... but costs of imports and exports have increased because of the obstacles created," Mohammad Nahavandian was quoted as saying in the Sarmayeh newspaper. Tehran is under several sets of UN and EU sanctions because of its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process which makes nuclear fuel but can be diverted to develop the explosive core of a nuclear...

PARIS — The Security Council should impose more sanctions on Iran over its stonewalling of a U.N. investigation into allegations that Tehran tried to make nuclear weapons, France said Tuesday. The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued a damning report Monday that said Iran has repeatedly blocked an investigation into its nuclear program and the probe is now deadlocked. "We have no other choice than to work in the days and weeks to come toward a new Security Council sanctions resolution," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said. He called the IAEA findings "very worrisome." White House...

France will not seek to impose sanctions against Russia over the current Russia-Georgia conflict at the European Union summit scheduled for Monday in Brussels, French media cited a source from the Elysee as saying. "We are now in dialogue with Moscow, not in the phase of sanctions," the source was quoted by AFP as saying on Friday. Time for sanctions "is certainly not coming," it said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country is now holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, called a special summit in Brussels to discuss the Russia-Georgia crisis and the future relationship between Russia and...

European Union leaders are to discuss sanctions against Russia ahead of an emergency summit meeting, the French foreign minister said today, as the west hardened its position towards Moscow. When asked what measures the west could take against Russia in the crisis over Georgia, Bernard Kouchner told a press conference in Paris: "Sanctions are being considered." He gave no details, but the fact that sanctions are on the cards reflects increasing western impatience at Moscow after its brief invasion of Georgia and its recognition of independence of Georgia's breakaway provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov,...

Bank Mellat, Iran’s third largest state-owned bank, is getting around US-imposed sanctions by establishing links with small and medium-sized banks that have less US exposure than bigger lenders, its managing director said. Ali Divandari told the Financial Times that US sanctions had failed to prevent the bank’s “links with the international brokerage network”, adding: “We managed to quickly replace other banks.”

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wracked by drought, Iran has turned to the United States for wheat for the first time in 27 years, marking a setback for Tehran's search for agricultural self-sufficiency. According to a recent US Department of Agriculture report, Iran has bought about 1.18 million tonnes of US hard wheat since the beginning of the 2008-2009 crop season in June. The number, which has been growing steadily all summer, already represents nearly 5.0 percent of US annual exports forecast by the USDA.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has dismissed tougher sanctions against Iran as ineffective. In an interview with the London-based Azzaman newspaper published on Saturday, ElBaradei said, “In my opinion new sanctions will not resolve Iran’s nuclear dispute.” He went on to say that a military attack against Iran is the worst alternative to end the standoff between Iran and the West. Britain, France, Germany and the United States are considering imposing additional sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment work.

Iran, a major risk Editorial for the week of August 9, 2008 We are focusing this week on Iran refusing to shut down its nuclear program and the consequences of that refusal for the Middle East. In spite of pressure by the United Nations Security Council and repeated warnings by Israel, Teheran has chosen not to respond to diplomatic initiatives, in order to stall for time. This is indeed a race and a challenge for Iranian President Ahmadinejad, whose strategy has not changed for the past two years. He is resisting western pressure, in order to consolidate his rule at...

WASHINGTON -- Iran faces more punitive measures, including sanctions, if it does not respond positively to an offer by major powers to rein in its nuclear program in exchange for incentives, the U.S. State Department has said. "We agreed in the absence of a clear, positive response from Iran that we have no choice but to pursue further measures against Iran as part of this strategy," department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters. Major powers -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany -- laid down an informal deadline to Iran of two weeks, which expired over the weekend,...

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, met with House Democrats yesterday, talking about his trip abroad and his observations. Obama told the caucus, according to an attendee, "Nobody said this to me directly but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work Israel is going to strike Iran." The notion that Israel is preparing for such an action against Iran's myriad nuclear facilities is not new, with conjecture heating up in May after an Israeli military exercise featuring 150 aircraft flying almost a thousand miles over the Mediterranean Sea in what was seen as a dress rehearsal...

US-Iranian relations are once again headline news after dropping off the radar for several months in the wake of the US National Intelligence Estimate in December 2007. In recent days, media and public attention has focused on the growing US diplomatic overtures to Tehran, as well as the reports about a possible military attack on Iran that continue to circulate. With all of the focus on the diplomatic and military fronts, there has been little attention paid lately to the middle ground between the two: the US financial campaign against Iran. Financial pressure may be the most important tool the...

Two brothers, named Alai, both doctors in Islamic Iran, specializing for over the past decade in AIDS and HIV treatment and control, have both been arrested and are being held incommunicado. Reports from Islamic Iran indicate the arrests stem initially from a disclosure by the two doctors of the huge, disproportionate rate of AIDS in the holy city of Ghom, south of Tehran, specially among the students at schools for those aspiring to join the ranks of the clergy. In addition, reports say that ayatollahs and other senior Mullahs and regime officials apparently number among those who have contracted AIDS...

President George W. Bush signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the Government of Zimbabwe Friday morning. The executive order focuses on targeting individuals and entities who support the regime of Robert Mugabe.

HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe's government was triumphant Saturday at the failure of a UN bid to impose fresh sanctions on Zimbabwe as Britain pledged to return to the Security Council if political violence continued. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown would discuss further measures with EU partners next week, a spokesman for the premier said in a statement. "We will continue to stand firmly for human rights and democracy and will return to the Security Council in the absence of early progress on mediation, humanitarian access and an end to violence," the statement added. Mugabe's government, meanwhile, thanked those...

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French firm 'quits Iran gas deal' Total was reportedly the last major western energy firm interested in Iran The boss of French energy giant Total says he will not invest in Iran because it is too risky. The firm had been due to develop gas fields in the south of the country, but Christophe de Margerie told the Financial Times it would not go ahead. The announcement comes a day after Iran test-fired a series of missiles, amid weeks of rising tensions with Israel and the US over its nuclear ambitions. Analysts say the move will be a big...

Protesters blockade Rep. Ackerman's houseboatBY JANIE LORBER | janie.lorber @newsday.com 9:31 AM EDT, July 9, 2008 WASHINGTON - A flotilla of peace protesters in canoes and rafts attempted to blockade the houseboat of Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Jamaica Estates) early Wednesday morning in reaction to legislation he submitted that would impose sanctions on Iran. The Queens Democrat emerged from his home on the Potomac River smiling and clapping after the demonstrators, known as Code Pink, had been chanting for nearly 30 minutes. They want Ackerman to withdraw the legislation because they believe it symbolizes the first step on a path to...

YOU KNOW THE BUSH administration’s North Korea policy is fatally flawed when even Barack Obama, last heard pledging to meet with the world’s dictators “without preconditions,” judges it naïve. And yet, the presumptive Democratic nominee sounded all too sensible yesterday when he suggested that the Bush administration’s baffling decision to strike Pyongyang from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring states and to lift trade sanctions against the tyrannical regime

(CNSNews.com) - "We will trust you only to the extent that you fulfill your promises," President Bush warned North Korea on Thursday. The president announced at the White House that in response to North Korea meeting a key deadline to declare its nuclear activities, the United States will lift some trade sanctions against the communist state and rescind North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror. North Korea handed over a long-awaited declaration of its nuclear programs to Chinese officials on Thursday. President Bush noted that North Korea has begun disabling its nuclear facility at Yongbyon; and on Thursday,...

North Korean Nuclear: important announcement at 09H00 GMT, according to Beijing BEIJING - China has informed Thursday that an "important announcement" would be made during a press conference in Beijing at 09H00 GMT on the nuclear issue of North Korean. "There will be a press conference at 17H00 (09H00 GMT) with an important announcement," said the spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry Liu Jianchao. Asked about the nature of this announcement, he said it was an "important news about the six-party talks", adding that he was "not in a position to give details." North Korea has promised to surrender Thursday...

EU sanctions illegal, says Iran Iran is already under UN sanctions for its nuclear activities Iran has condemned as illegal new EU sanctions against Tehran over its uranium enrichment programme. A foreign ministry spokesman said the sanctions would make Iran more determined to obtain the technology. On Monday, the EU imposed an asset freeze on Iran's largest bank and added more names to a list of Iranians who are banned from travelling to the EU. The US and allies accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its programme is for peaceful purposes. It is defying a demand from...

The European Union has imposed new sanctions on Iran in an effort to halt the country's nuclear program. The European assets of a major Iranian bank are to be frozen and more restrictions may be on their way.Erik Seemann The EU froze the assets of Iran's biggest bank on Monday.The European Union stepped up its campaign against Iran's nuclear program on Monday, freezing the European assets of a major Iranian bank. At a meeting of European foreign ministers in Luxembourg, a new sanctions package was announced that included measures against Iran's biggest financial institution, Bank Melli. Bank Melli has been...

The European Union has agreed new financial sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran to halt uranium enrichment. The new measures freeze all assets of the Bank Melli, Iran's biggest bank, within the EU. Last week the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana offered new incentives to Tehran - but has not received a reply. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, but is defying a demand from the UN that it stop the enrichment of uranium. The UN Security Council approved a third round of sanctions against Iran over the issue in March 2008. Blacklist Western officials have accused Bank...

There were questions surrounding Gordon Brown when he became Great Britain's Prime Minister. Taking office with echoes of "lap dog" following his predecessor Tony Blair, many wondered just how committed Brown would be to the "Special Relationship" between the US and Great Britain and whether he would initiate a more independent course in foreign affairs. Brown may yet eschew supporting the US on many issues. But on increasing sanctions on Iran and sending additional troops to Afghanistan - two things the US devoutly wished Brown would accede to - the British Prime Minister has come through.....

LONDON, June 16--British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday announced plans for new sanctions against Iran and a small increase in troops for Afghanistan, handing President Bush a symbolic boost on the last day of his weeklong farewell trip to EuropeBrown, appearing with Bush at a 10 Downing Street news conference, said Britain and the European Union are expected to act this week to freeze the assets of Iran's largest bank, Bank Melli, in response to Tehran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program. Bush has made Iran's uranium enrichment program a focus of his European swing, and has been...

Tehran will today be offered the chance of international assistance to develop a peaceful nuclear energy programme if it halts uranium enrichment — or face punishing sanctions within a month. Javier Solana, the European Union chief, will deliver the message to Iranian leaders today as the head of a six-member international delegation of senior diplomats from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. The “carrot and stick package” outlined by British officials this week offers Iran a range of incentives to begin negotiations but not until it has halted all Iranian enrichment. Officials acknowledge that the package differs little to that...

ON June 4, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice presented her annual report on human trafficking for 2008, in which, for the sixth consecutive year, the United States government included Cuba among the countries it accuses of not making significant efforts to confront the alleged trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and described our country as a sexual tourism destination, among other serious and unfounded accusations. For the first time, the imperial power also decided to include in this report several recommendations to the Cuban government as to how to confront the phenomenon. At the...

The U.S. envoy to the EU said Washington was keen for the EU to act as quickly as possible. "We want to make sure they are going as fast as they can," C. Boyden Gray told reporters in Slovenia ahead of the summit. Western countries suspect Iran is seeking the ability to make nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its secretive program is purely aimed at generating energy. The U.N. Security Council passed a third sanctions resolution against Iran in April and Washington has pressed the EU to deny targeted Iranian banks access to the international financial system. EU diplomats had said...

UN inspectors in Iraq spent their working hours drinking vodka while ignoring a shadowy nocturnal fleet believed to be smuggling goods for Saddam Hussein, a former senior inspector told the US Senate yesterday. In a move that provoked fury from officials of the Swiss firm Cotecna, an Australian former inspector detailed a picture of incompetence, indifference and drunkeness among the men acting as the frontline for UN sanctions. Arthur Ventham, a former Australian army officer and customs officer, joined the operation in 2002 and worked at various sites in Iraq and neighbouring states. He said that at Iskendurun in eastern...

For most of 2007, concerns about Iran grew louder. This situation changed dramatically in December, with the release of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's nuclear intentions and capabilities. The NIE, which assessed that Iran had ceased its covert weapons program in 2003, was widely interpreted to indicate that Iran was no longer a threat. As a result, questions were raised whether U.S.-led efforts to ratchet up financial pressure against Tehran, through both UN sanctions and unilateral measures, remained either necessary or viable. In reality, even if Iran no longer has an active covert nuclear weapons program, there would...

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syria will not accept preconditions over its resumed peace talks with Israel and will not compromise its relations with other states, the government daily Tishrin said on Saturday, referring to Iran. Damascus rejects all preconditions concerning its relations with other countries and peoples," it said after an Israeli call for Damascus to distance itself from Tehran, which has called for the destruction of the Jewish state. "Damascus will make no compromise on these relations," an editorial said. Israel and Syria announced on Wednesday they had launched indirect peace talks, with Turkey acting as go-between, after an eight-year...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has warned Beijing over reported use of Chinese weapons by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Asian giant's continued sale of arms to Iran, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Thursday. He said he conveyed the concerns personally to Chinese officials during his visit to Beijing this week. "Just the other day, Monday, when I was in Beijing, this was one of the issues I raised -- concern about Chinese weapons or Chinese-designed weapons showing up in some of these battle areas, be it Iraq or Afghanistan," he told a...

An Iranian-born United States citizen was sentenced here yesterday in US District Court to two years in prison and six months of home confinement for illegaly exporting US military aircraft parts to Iran via associates in Germany and the United Arab Emirates. Reza Tabib, 52, of Irvine, CA, pleaded guilty in June 2006 to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which prohibits the export and re-export to Iran of certain items of US origin. The prosecution is the result of a joint investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS). In...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday declared Iran was "not afraid" of sanctions over its contested nuclear programme and would further step up its progress. ADVERTISEMENT "We are not afraid of Western sanctions," he told thousands of people in a speech in the southern city of Shiraz broadcast by state television. "The Iranian people, thanks to God, will resist in the face of sanctions and economic blockades and will further intensify their progress." Iran has been hit by three sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its nuclear programme, mainly targeting its ballistic missile and atomic...

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's leading shipping company has said US sanctions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme have hurt the industry, the Aftab Yazd newspaper reported on Wednesday. "Currently, because of unfair UN sanctions and US pressure on foreign ships not to cooperate with Iranian-flagged ships, we cannot have our flag on all of our vessels," the head of Bonyad Shipping Company (BOSCO), Ali Safarali, was quoted as saying. Safarali said that the state shipping organisation receives a 10 percent ports duty from Iranian ships that sail under foreign flags. This puts the industry under double pressure -- both...

Analysis: How Iranians are Avoiding Sanctions April 14, 2008 The Financial Times Anna Fifield in Tehran When Shahrom, a Tehran developer, wants to transfer thousands of dollars to his property investment business in Dubai, or to associates in the US, he does not go to the bank. Instead, like thousands of other Iranian business people, he turns to his trusted money changer. Using a centuries-old financial transfer system known as havaleh in Iran and elsewhere as hawala, its Arabic name, Shahrom moves his money easily – and just about invisibly. “I usually transfer money into my own account in Dubai...

PERUGIA, Italy -- The Libyan officer tried to cloak the purpose of his call to the Italian arms dealer. "A friend," he said, wanted to buy 1 million "pieces" and 50 million items of "food." But when that phone call was placed in 2006, Italian police were listening. They knew the meaning. Libya was shopping for guns - lots of them. Authorities shadowed the negotiations between Libyan officials and a group of black-market dealers from across Italy for a year before they moved in and broke up what would have been a $64 million deal for hundreds of thousands of...

U.S. Ready to Ease Sanctions on N. Korea Pyongyang Would Have to Acknowledge Evidence About Nuclear Activities By Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 11, 2008; A15 The United States is prepared to lift two key economic sanctions against North Korea under a tentative deal reached with that country this week, which requires Pyongyang to acknowledge U.S. concerns and evidence about a range of nuclear activities, U.S. and Asian diplomats said yesterday. The agreement also requires North Korea to finish disabling its main nuclear facility and provide a full accounting of its stockpile of plutonium. But, in a...

A lawyer who sent out hundreds of thousands of threatening letters demanding that alleged file-sharers pay 400 euros, has been banned from operating for 6 months. Elizabeth Martin, who had been working with Swiss anti-piracy outfit, Logistep, was condemned by the Paris Bar Council. For anti-piracy company, Logistep, life is becoming more and more difficult by the day. They have been deemed to be operating illegally in Italy and have been slammed over privacy issues in the home country, Switzerland. Now, according to a report - and to add further insult to this growing pile of misery - a lawyer...

Dorset man smuggling parts to Iran, says US By Patrick Sawer A British pensioner is at the centre of a worldwide police hunt after being accused by United States authorities of smuggling military parts to Iran. Brian Woodford, 77, who owns a 17th century manor house and 100-acre estate in Dorset, has been charged in his absence with selling millions of pounds worth of US military and civilian aircraft parts to the Islamic regime in Tehran. His wife Laura was arrested after arriving at San Francisco on a flight from Hong Kong with two catalogues from a Chinese company that...