Sanctions on Iran taking their toll

[Burnt Orange Bevo]

Looks like Western sanctions are starting to bring Iran's economy to its knees.

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[Uninformed]

This should help Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq gain some independence and should slow the flow of arms to Hezbollah and the Palestinian territories. I wonder what the Israeli papers are saying about this.

 

[Uninformed]

The Link

LATEST: Iran deploys 15,000 troops to help Syria’s Assad

The Al Arabiya news channel reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has deployed 15,000 armed troops to Syria recently in order to help Syrian President Bashar Assad in his fight against opposition forces

Haaretz
February 7, 2012

Report: Top Iran military official aiding Assad’s crackdown on Syria opposition

Prominent Syrian lawmaker says the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force has recently arrived in the country to help manage Assad’s regime brutal suppression of a 11-month-long popular unrest.

A top Iranian military official is activily aiding the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in suppressing popular unrest throughout the country, a top member of the National Syrian Council said on Monday.

According to the Syrian official, Kassam Salimani, commander of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard special forces unit, has arrived in Syria recently and has taken up a spot in the war room which manages army maneuvers against opposition forces.

 

[Uninformed]

VIENNA — Iran is believed to be expanding uranium enrichment activity deep inside a mountain, diplomatic sources said on Monday, a move likely to add to tension with Western powers that suspect Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons capability...

Iran said last year that it would transfer its highest-grade uranium refinement work to Fordow from its main enrichment plant at Natanz, and sharply boost capacity...

Iran two years ago started refining uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent at Natanz – far more than the 3.5 percent level usually required to power nuclear energy plants.

Tehran says it will use 20 percent-enriched uranium to convert into fuel for a research reactor making isotopes to treat cancer patients, but Western officials say they doubt that the country has the technical capability to do that.

In addition, they say, Fordow’s capacity – a maximum of 3,000 centrifuges – is too small to produce the fuel needed for nuclear power plants, but ideal for yielding smaller amounts of high-enriched product typical of a nuclear weapons programme...

Tightening international sanctions against Iran look set to shrink its economy, push up inflation and further erode its currency, but they may fail to deliver a knock-out blow that forces Tehran to compromise on its nuclear ambitions.

Few areas of Iran’s economy now remain untouched by the sanctions. Because of payments difficulties, Iranian ships have in recent days stopped loading imports of Ukrainian grain. The United Arab Emirates has told its banks to stop financing Iran’s trade with Dubai. Iranians are finding it more difficult to obtain hard currency to travel abroad.

But the history of sanctions against other countries, and the strengths of Iran’s diverse and relatively self-reliant economy, suggest that as long as Tehran can find buyers for a large proportion of its oil, it will be able to limp along.

The pain will be felt throughout the country and could increase discontent with the government, but if President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can cope with that political threat, there may be no overriding economic reason for him to back down.

“Iran can still scrape by,” said Gary Hufbauer, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in the United States and a former U.S. Treasury official who has written extensively about the history of sanctions.

He ranks the measures against Iran – taken to stop what the West sees as Tehran’s nuclear ambitions – as among the toughest international sanctions of the past 50 years, but not as harsh as those once imposed on Iraq, North Korea and Cuba – countries which defied economic pressure.
The Link

 

[Burnt Orange Bevo]

Malaysia now halting palm oil exports to Iran.

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[Uninformed]

This guy, from the article above, doesn't think the sanctions will keep Iran from building nuclear weapons:
“Iran can still scrape by,” said Gary Hufbauer, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in the United States and a former U.S. Treasury official who has written extensively about the history of sanctions.

He ranks the measures against Iran – taken to stop what the West sees as Tehran’s nuclear ambitions – as among the toughest international sanctions of the past 50 years, but not as harsh as those once imposed on Iraq, North Korea and Cuba – countries which defied economic pressure.

Meanwhile, Iran just sent 15,000 troops to Syria to help Assad keep power. It will be interesting to see if Iran can continue its proxy war in Syria. Iran needs to keep its troops fed because an angry military is the quickest way to lose power. From Iran's point of view, it must keep unrest in Iran at a minimum: If a civil war broke out, a strike by outside forces against the Fordow nuclear facility would hardly be noticed.

 

[NEWDOC2002]

Back a scared dog into a corner and see what you get. I'm not convinced Iran will do anything but lash out.

 

[ShinerTX]

Well this is one way to punish the poor people in Iran, just as we punished the poor in Iraq for many years. I can assure you that Saddam and Ahmadinejad did not miss any meals.

 

[Hpslugga]

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[Uninformed]

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[ShinerTX]

We should have figured out a way to better support the popular uprising in Iran a couple years back. I'm not sure why we would help the a Libyans but not the Syrians or Iranians.

 

[Statalyzer]

So basically, because we don't like the leadership of Iran (for good reason), we are going to punish the group of people in the world who most strongly dislike the leadership of Iran (also for good reason).

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[Bevo Incognito]

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