TIMES ONLINE: Iran’s state shipping company is carrying out a systematic campaign of deception to protect its international trade from looming sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (Irisl), which has close links with the country’s Revolutionary Guards, is to be singled out in sanctions that are being voted on in the Security Council today.
Fresh concerns over how to implement the sanctions have emerged, however, after revelations about how the company evaded embargos by renaming scores of ships and setting up front companies to disguise their ownership.
According to a report in The New York Times published yesterday, as many as ten blacklisted ships are still insured in Britain and Bermuda and an unknown number whose ownership has been better disguised may have links to Britain. >>> Catherine Philp, Hugh Tomlinson, Martin Fletcher | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: UNITED NATIONS — The United States, moving firmly away from the Obama administration’s previous emphasis on wooing Iran, pushed through a new round of United Nations sanctions against the nation on Wednesday, taking aim at its military in yet another attempt to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program.
The new sanctions, a modest increase from previous rounds, took months to negotiate but still did not carry the symbolic weight of a unanimous Security Council decision. Twelve of the 15 nations voted for the measure, while Turkey and Brazil voted against and Lebanon abstained.
Beyond the restrictions imposed by the sanctions themselves, the vote sets stage for harsher measures that the United States and the European Union have promised to enact on their own once they had the imprimatur of the United Nations. European leaders are likely to discuss new measures at a summit in mid June. >>> Neil MacFarquhar | Wednesday, June 09, 2010
