More details emerged today about the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on several non-U.S. companies and individuals for transferring WMD and missile technology to Iran (see GSN, May 9).

The U.S. State Department yesterday said it is imposing sanctions on certain Chinese, Armenian and Moldovan companies for alleged transfers to Iran in violation of international agreements.  The sanctions apply to 14 entities for two years and will limit U.S. government contracts with the firms, State spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday.  U.S. authorities will identify the companies with a notice in the Federal Register in the next several days, he said.

The sanctions apply only to the specific entities and do not extend to the Chinese, Armenian and Moldovan governments, Boucher said, adding, “We appreciate the efforts that Moldova and Armenia in particular have made in nonproliferation.”

A U.S. official reportedly indicated the Moldovan and Armenian companies are probably fronts for Russian entities, but Boucher said the State Department had no evidence to indicate that (U.S. State Department release, May 9).

The sanctions are applied under the 2000 Iran Nonproliferation Act, which imposes penalties on companies that sell items to Iran controlled by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Australia Group, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Washington Times reported.

U.S. intelligence officials said the sanctions are a response to a Chinese transfer of naval missiles to Iran in January, according to the Times.  A senior administration official said the sanctions were related to chemical weapons technology transfers.

Not the First Time for China

This is the first time the United States has imposed sanctions on Armenian or Moldovan companies but the third time in the last eight months the United States has imposed penalties on Chinese entities, according to the Times.  Some of the Chinese companies penalized under the new sanctions have been under U.S. sanctions before, the administration official said.

The United States imposed sanctions in January on two Chinese companies and one individual for selling chemical and biological weapons equipment to Iran (see GSN, Jan. 24).  The Bush administration also imposed sanctions in September on a Chinese company and a Pakistani company for missile transfers that allegedly violated a November 2000 U.S.-Chinese agreement (see GSN, April 17).

Chinese Reaction

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called the sanctions unfair.  “We oppose the unreasonable sanctions by the United States, if the news is for real,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.

“China has consistently and firmly opposed any weapons of mass destruction,” he said, adding China has fulfilled its international obligations and imposed strict export controls (Bill Gertz, Washington Times, May 10).

Little Evidence Iran Developing Shabab-4

Meanwhile, a think tank analysis found little support for U.S. claims that Iran is developing a missile capable of striking Europe (see GSN, May 8).

“There is little evidence that Iran has successfully finished its work on the Shahab-3, much less come close to nearly doubling the range of this missile in the Shahab-4,” wrote Andrew Krepps, a junior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The Shahab-3, with a range of 1,300 kilometers, has had a mixed test record, including a failed test in February, according to a Feb. 10 Ha’aretz report, Krepps said.  Jane’s Defense Weekly reported in October that Iran lacks the capability to indigenously produce the Shahab-3 and instead relies on North Korean No Dong engines, according to Krepps. 

Iran’s struggles to successfully test and produce the Shahab-3 indicate that producing the more complex Shahab-4 is currently unlikely, he wrote.

The United States should work to prevent missile technology proliferation to Iran, Krepps wrote.  “Overstating the current threat to Europe and U.S. security posed by Iranian missiles, however, should not be a by-product of nonproliferation enforcement” (Andrew Krepps, Carnegie release , May 9).

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