U.S. Pressure on Iran Threatens Rift With Europe

The United States and the European Union might be seeing increased tension as Washington presses for EU nations to impose more stringent economic sanctions against Iran, wire services reported (see GSN, Feb. 7).

A December U.N. Security Council resolution established a set of trade prohibitions targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, but the United States has urged its European allies to take further measures not required by the resolution.

“A nonmilitary campaign, if serious and sustained, and supported by like-minded countries, has the potential to succeed against a regime that has failed to deliver on its economic promises, that needs foreign investment to sustain government revenue, and that faces increasing opposition at home,” said U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency Gregory Schulte, speaking yesterday at a Munich conference (Giacomo/Heinrich, Reuters/Washington Post, Feb. 7).

European officials and oil industry leaders have received increasing calls by U.S. officials, urging them to reduce their ties with Iran, the Associated Press reported.

“All the oil companies will tell you that they are having regular visits from the U.S. embassies in their countries,” said a European oil consultant.

U.S. officials have tried to encourage “companies to consider whether such investments will really be stable over the long term, and whether they will be worth the risk to their investments and to their international reputations,” according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Vienna.

However, those arguments are unlikely to succeed, the oil consultant said.

“Nobody in Europe is going to give up the opportunity of doing business with Iran just for the sake of pleasing the Americans,” said the consultant (George Jahn, Associated Press/CBS News, Feb. 8)

Schulte denied that the U.S. pressure was creating any friction between nations.

“Each country is free to adopt decisions as appropriate,” he said.  “It doesn’t mean this nuance between the United States and EU is triggering tensions” (Giacomo/Heinrich, Reuters).

Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heard concerns yesterday from her own party that the Bush administration was failing to provide evidence of Iran’s nuclear-weapon ambitions or its support for insurgents in Iraq, Agence France-Presse reported.

“Unproven charges against Iran’s nuclear intentions are eerily reminiscent of the false charges made against Iraq before we invaded that country,” said Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas) during a Rice appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“Pressed for proof of dramatic claims of Iranian involvement in Iraq, the administration keeps promising that they are compiling it,” he added.  “This sounds like Iraq, where accusations came first and proof was supposed to come later — only that proof never came because the accusations turned out to be false.”

Rice denied that the administration was seeking to build a case for military action against Iran.

“We are not planning or intending an attack on Iran,” she said.  “What we are doing is that we are responding to a number of Iranian policies both in Iran and around the world that are actually quite dangerous for our national security” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 7).

Rice also denied knowledge of a 2003 Iranian overture to hold bilateral talks with the United States on a wide range of issues, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Feb. 21, 2006).

In a two-page fax sent to the State Department via the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland, Iran offered to discuss its nuclear program, to coordinate policies in Iraq, to take “decisive action” against terrorists, and to accept a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the Post.

The fax said Iran was seeking access to peaceful nuclear technology, the removal of economic sanctions and U.S. recognition of Iran’s “legitimate security interests,” the Post reported.

Rice denied knowledge of the fax, which was sent when she was serving as the president’s national security adviser.

“I have read about the so-called proposal from Iran,” she told the committee.  “We had people who said, ‘The Iranians want to talk to you,’ lots of people who said, ‘The Iranians want to talk to you.’  But I think I would have noticed if the Iranians had said, “We’re ready to recognize Israel.’ … I just don’t remember ever seeing any such thing,” she said (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 8).

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