EU loopholes could undermine new Iran sanctions, US warns
Any new sanctions imposed on Iran will be effective only if existing loopholes which allow middlemen to buy high-tech American goods in Europe and send them to Tehran are closed, US officials have told this website.
Both the US and EU countries are currently looking at imposing a fresh set of sanctions after Tehran stepped up its uranium enrichment programme, which Western powers believe is in reality an attempt to develop a nuclear bomb.
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But US officials warn that unless current loopholes are fixed, Europe and US-based middlemen working for Iran will continue to circumvent the sanctions regime.
"I think it's essential that in conjunction with new sanctions, the US and its partners work together to address the current loopholes that Iran is using not only throughout Europe, but also other countries - the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Malaysia - to obtain prohibited items.
"Iran will continue to attempt to procure the goods that will be subject to new sanctions through the same mechanisms and doors that are currently open," Brian Davis from the Brussels office of the US immigration and customs enforcement agency (ICE) told this website.
The office was recently set up in the EU capital for "strategic reasons," in order to co-operate not only with Belgian authorities, but also the European Commission, its anti-fraud office (Olaf) and the World Customs Organisation, which is also based in Brussels.
ICE agents are focusing on tracking down buyers of so-called dual-use items - high-tech components with applications in medical, telecoms and other fields, but also in Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme.
The money that is used to acquire bits and pieces which can be used to set up nuclear centrifuges "often filters through Europe," Clark Settles of the US Department of Homeland Security, who is in charge of counter-proliferation investigations, told EUobserver in a phone interview.
"We follow the trail, but we adhere to the law of our partner countries -France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium - just to name a few. Predominantly what we do is go after people who are international arms dealers trying to acquire US technology even though they know it's in violation of our laws. So they take a number of steps to hide the source of where the money is coming from in Iran, the destination of the products," Mr Settles said.
In a lot of extradition cases, suspects appeal the order in national courts. Since European countries only apply arms and nuclear proliferation embargoes, attempts to send them to the US on charges of trading in dual use items sometimes fall through.
Mr Davis stressed that even in Europe, middlemen need to have specific export licences whenever trading in such products. If their shipments actually end up in Iran, then they are in violation of EU law.
"We need to do a better job at making sure that these goods go to their declared destination, that they stay in Malaysia, for example, and are not subsequently re-exported, in violation of US and EU law. If an exporter from the EU obtains a licence to export to Malaysia and then the goods get re-exported to Iran, that is in fact a violation of EU law. Those are the types of cases that I am currently working on with EU partners," he explained.
New sanctions under way
US foreign policy chief Hillary Clinton has started a tour of Latin America, looking to Brazil and Argentina for support in the UN Security Council for a new set of sanctions against Iran.
Speaking on the plane to Buenos Aires, Mr Clinton backed away from her previous statements that a new resolution could be obtained in the "next 30 to 60 days."
"We are moving expeditiously and thoroughly in the Security Council. I can't give you an exact date, but I would assume sometime in the next several months," she said before landing in the Argentine capital, AFP reports.
Apart from sceptical non-permanent members of the Security Council such as Brazil, the US needs to convince Russia and China, who can veto any new resolution, as they have done in the past.
Washington's strongest ally on the Iran dossier is France, which currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council.
Who will suffer?
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday met his Russian counterpart, afterward saying that Moscow was willing to support such measures "as long as they don't create humanitarian dramas."
Experts are however sceptical that the new sanctions will have an impact on the Ahmadinejad government: "In general, one can observe that the current sanctions have only had a limited impact on the Iranian regime. But the population, especially young people, is suffering, because the economy has been affected and unemployment is rising," said Alain Rodier, an expert with the Paris-based Centre francais de recherce sur le renseignement.
He noted the Europeans were usually very vocal in supporting sanctions verbally, but less "tough" on actually applying them.