Oppose the UN Security Council Sanctions Against
On December 23, 2006 the United Nations
Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran. These block the import or export of
specific nuclear material and equipment and also freeze the financial assets of specific
individuals, institutions and enterprises. The Security Council resolution
prohibits any country from supplying, selling or transferring any items to Iran
that could contribute to enrichment-related, reprocessing or heavy-water
related activities or nuclear weapon delivery systems. It also directs the Director General of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to submit a report within 60 days on
whether Iran has established full and sustained suspension of all activities
mentioned in the resolution.
The resolution goes on to state that the
Security Council will review Iran’s actions in light of this IAEA report. It
will suspend implementation of these sanctions, if and for so long as Iran has
suspended all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, or it will adopt
additional punitive measures if Iran has not complied. In addition, the
Security Council established a new committee, comprised of all its members, to
monitor implementation of the resolution and designate further individuals,
institutions or enterprises to which the sanctions should apply. All member states of the United Nations must
report to this committee within 60 days on the steps they have taken towards
implementing the resolution.
This resolution is the culmination of many
years of intrigue against Iran led by the United States. The aim of these
sanctions, as well as other economic, political and military pressure against
Iran, is the complete domination of the Middle East by the Americans. U.S.
imperialism vehemently opposes any government or people in the Middle East that
resist its domination - whether it is the Palestinian people fighting for
self-determination, or the Iranian government pursuing a national and
international policy of its own choosing, or the people of Iraq fighting to rid
their country of U.S.-British occupation.
The imperialists have created the nuclear
issue in Iran as a pretext and diversion. They really do not care what issue is
used to justify their attacks on Iran. This is the modus operandi of the
imperialists in all situations. The entire world is witness to the bare-faced
lies that Bush and Blair used to justify their aggression against Iraq. If, in
fact, Iran is developing nuclear weapons - and there is actually no evidence
that this is the case - why is it that the United States, Britain, France and
other nuclear-supplier countries have had many of these economic sanctions in
place against Iran since 1979?
Before the 1979 Iranian revolution these
countries and their nuclear industries had made massive investments towards
developing a nuclear industry in Iran, including uranium-enrichment facilities.
After the Iranian revolution they stopped their investments, construction and
co-operation with Iran. These actions had nothing to do with preventing the
development of nuclear weapons. Rather, they were part of a concerted effort by
the imperialists to de-stabilize Iran and topple the new revolutionary government.
In fact, the U.S. sanctions imposed at that time, and renewed by every single
American president since, are not limited to nuclear or missile technology;
they prohibit any kind of trade between U.S. companies and Iran.
This most recent resolution against Iran is
yet another illustration of the domination and control of the UN Security
Council by the five permanent members, in particular the U.S. The very powers
that are supposed to defend world peace against aggression are the ones that
are committing aggression and mobilizing others to do the same. One day the
Security Council passes a resolution against a country like Iran which has no
nuclear weapons, no military troops outside of its borders, supports a
nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and supports the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT). The next day it is silent about the U.S.-backed Ethiopian
aggression against Somalia and about the U.S. helicopter gunship attack there. The
new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
shamelessly endorsed this
Fifteen years ago the U.S., with Security
Council backing, brought the might of its entire armed forces and those of its allies, like Canada, crashing down on
Saddam Hussein for invading Kuwait. It did not wait a second to seek a peaceful
resolution to the Iraq-Kuwait confrontation. By contrast, today the UN Security
Council remains silent about Ethiopia's U.S.-backed invasion of Somalia.
Similarly, only a few days before the resolution against Iran the Prime
Minister of Israel admitted that Israel has nuclear weapons. While this was not
a well-kept secret, the Israelis had never before admitted this. Surely, this
should have triggered some kind of censure or response from the UN Security
Council, but absolutely nothing was said.
In the meantime, the big powers and their
regional allies continue to modernize and augment their nuclear arsenals and
all of it goes without comment by the UN Security Council. Tony Blair’s British
government is currently renewing its Trident nuclear weapon submarine systems
contrary to its disarmament obligations under the NPT. On January 8, the New
York Times reported that the U.S. is
planning to spend 100 billion dollars on its nuclear weapons program. It stated
that the U.S. is ready to build its first nuclear warhead in 20 years. A new
design - the "Reliable Replacement Warhead" – which will replace the
existing nuclear warhead design, is to be unveiled to Congress soon by the
Nuclear Weapons Council.
Modern Communism denounces the UN Security Council,
particularly the five permanent members - the United States, Britain, France,
Russia and China - for imposing sanctions on Iran. It also denounces the
Canadian government for supporting this resolution. The Canadian working class
and people should see through the lies of the American and Canadian governments
and oppose the unjust attacks on Iran.