US to impose sanctions on Iran military - reports |
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Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:25
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WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - The US is to announce unilateral sanctions against Tehran today, aimed at isolating a critical section of the Iranian military, the Washington Post reported.The unilateral sanctions will designate the elite Quds force a supporter of terrorism and the Revolutionary Guard Corps a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction, the Post said.The measures, to be announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, will allow US officials to press hundreds of foreign companies doing business with Iran's military to back out or risk US sanctions, the Post said.'This is a very powerful set of measures designed to send a message to Iran that there will be a cost to what they do. We decided on them because we have seen no change in Iranian behaviour,' an unnamed senior administration official told the Post.It marks the first time that Washington has sought to directly sanction another country's military, and is the broadest set of punitive measures imposed on Tehran since 1979, according to the Post.The Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most powerful wing of Iran's military, controls construction companies, pharmaceutical plants, and segments of the oil industry, according the Post.US officials told the newspaper that it also operates the front companies that procure nuclear technology.The Quds Force, the foreign operations branch of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, runs Tehran's covert activities throughout the Middle East.tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.comafp/sljCOPYRIGHTCopyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
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