Wednesday, March 11, 2009

US Says Iran Broke Weapons Ban

Iran has been accused of violating international sanctions banning it from exporting munitions, which the US maintains were destined for Syria. Details from the Wall Street Journal are as follows:

A U.S. official said the incident occurred Jan. 19 and 20, when the Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk, which originated in Iran, was boarded in the Red Sea by the USS San Antonio. The ship was ordered to port in Cyprus, where authorities there found 1,980 wooden cases of powder for 130mm guns and 1,320 cases of powder and powder pellets for 125mm guns, according to a Cypriot government report.

Also discovered were 60 barrels full of 39mm shells, 810 cases of propellant for 125mm guns and eight cases of 120mm mortar components, the report said. Three of the 98 containers onboard were too heavy to move and still haven't been searched, the report said. The munitions are being stored on Cyprus.

[...]

In a March, 2007 resolution, the Security Council imposed an arms export embargo on Iran. The resolution suggests that embargo violations can be punished by non-military measures "such as complete or partial interruption of economic relations and ... the severance of diplomatic relations."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't just a little bit unreasonable to expect a nation to participate in sanctions against itself? It's the arrogant legalism of the powerful: Iran would not punish itself, so the punishment is doubled.

Now if the UN wants to punish Syria, that might make some sense, but Syria has to actually take delivery in order to be guilty. In any case, I doubt the matter will progress much beyond the "Americans jumping up and down with steam coming out of their ears" phase.

Anonymous said...

The ship was bound for Syria and there is no evidence against Iran for having wanted to send arms to Hezbollah, its just an accusation brought up by Irans adversaries.

nothing serious, except the usual accusattions and counter accusations.

we had that kind of stuff with the nukes and now this and it wont be the last either.

Iran knows how to do it, they have been doing it for 30 years / nothing to worry about in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

This is just another proof that Iran is very problematic country that is hard to deal with. I am very curious whether so greatly announced coming talks between Iran and USA will be successful. I doubt so.
Take care, Jay.