US imposes more Iran sanctions

The Iranian leadership insists the sanctions 
will have no effect on the country [AFP]

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/2010844718458181.html

The US government has imposed sanctions on 21 Iranian government firms, increasing international pressure over the country's disputed nuclear program.

Accusing Tehran of trying to dodge sanctions by setting up opaque trading companies, the US treasury department on Tuesday also named a host of banking, mining and other companies - spread throughout Europe and Japan -as government-backed.

"As its isolation from the international financial and commercial systems increases, the government of Iran will continue efforts to evade sanctions," Stuart Levey, the treasury undersecretary, said.

Those moves, he said, included "using government-owned entities around the world that are not easily identifiable as Iranian to facilitate transactions in support of their illicit activities".

The treasury also announced sanctions against individuals and groups to target "the government of Iran's support for terrorism and terrorist organizations," that include Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Taliban.

Taliban Support

Senior members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard were among those named, including Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Hossein Musavi - a commander who, the treasury said, had "provided financial and material support to the Taliban".

It also accused the Revolutionary Guard of running aid operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon as cover for intelligence operations as well as funding armed groups.

The 21 firms included two Belarus-based banks, two Germany-based investment firms, and mining and engineering companies in Japan, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy and Iran.

US citizens and businesses will now be barred from doing business with the proscribed companies.

It is the latest in a series of US moves aimed at increasing pressure on Iran, which Western governments say is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the charge and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
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White House Rebuffs Iran Call for Talks



US President Barack Obama (L) and Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137362&sectionid=351020101

The White House has rejected a call from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for face-to-face talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama.

"We have always said that we'd be willing to sit down and discuss Iran's illicit nuclear program, if Iran is serious about doing that," AFP quoted White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs as saying on Tuesday.

"To date, that seriousness has not been there," he added.

Gibbs, however, held the door open to US-Iran talks as the State Department saw signs that Iran may now be seeking a dialogue with Tehran under the pressure of "new sanctions."

Also, US State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley said, "Iran may now be seeking a dialogue with Washington because it is feeling the bite of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, the United States, European Union and others."

"The cost of doing business for Iran is going up," Crowley said.

His comments come as Tehran has repeatedly declared that it will not relinquish the legitimate nuclear rights of the Iranian nation under Western pressure.

"We're encouraged by what we're seeing... We sense that there may well be a willingness on the part of Iran to enter into the kind of dialogue that we have long sought," he added.

"We are willing to meet Iran any time any place within the P5-plus-1," he concluded, referring to the US, Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany.

On Monday, Ahmadinejad criticized Obama for missing "historic opportunities" to repair the broken relations with Iran and expressed readiness to meet him for face-to-face talks based on justice and mutual respect.

In an address to a gathering of Iranian expatriates in Tehran, Ahmadinejad said that he is ready to hold talks with Obama at the end of September, when he plans to go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.

"We are ready to sit down with Mr. Obama face-to-face and put the global issues on the table, and see whose solutions are better. We think this is a better approach," Ahmadinejad said.

The Iranian president went on to say that he is ready to hold talks with President Obama "in front of the media" at the end of September, when he plans to go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, Mehr News Agency reported.
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Ahmadinejad Invites Obama for Talks



Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137166&sectionid=351020101

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed readiness for face-to-face talks based on justice and mutual respect with his US counterpart Barack Obama.

"We will put the solutions to world issues on the table, and see who has a better approach," Ahmadinejad said on Monday, adding that if Obama's ideas are righteous Iran will accept them.

The Iranian president went on to say that he is ready to hold talks with President Obama "in front of the media" at the end of September, when he plans to go to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, Mehr News Agency reported.

He made the comments in an address to a gathering of Iranian expatriates in Tehran on Monday.

Ahmadinejad also criticized Obama for giving too much value to Israelis, saying that the US administration must determine whether the Zionists dominate it or it is dominating the Zionist regime?