UN barking but US can bite (ILSA renewal)

[NVMojo]

September 20, 2006
IF Iran is going to worry about the prospect of sanctions, it should be those that the US is drawing up on its own, not anything trickling out of the UN.

There are hints that the US may enforce its current sanctions laws against foreign companies dealing with Iran far more aggressively than it has yet done - and Congress may tighten the laws further.

That could hurt Iran and companies dealing with it more than anything the UN laboriously does.

This week, the permanent members of the UN Security Council will try to thrash out ways to put pressure on Iran for failing to curb its nuclear ambitions. But hopes are not high.
snip ...

For 10 years, the US has threatened penalties against companies that do business with Iran under its Iran-Libya Sanctions Act.

"Ilsa", as it is familiarly known, bars non-US oil and gas companies from investing more than $US20million ($26.6million) a year in Iran. US companies are separately banned from any dealing with Iran, by presidential directive.

The law has always been controversial among non-US companies, as it asserts the right to punish them for dealing with Iran even if their own countries have no objection, and it targets them directly, not Iran.

This (northern) summer, in recognition of Libya's decision to give up a clandestine nuclear program, Congress redrafted Ilsa to excise the part about Libya.

Ilsa is due to expire on September 29 this year, but a revised version, dealing just with Iran, is all but certain to be passed soon, fanned by the campaigns for the November congressional elections. There are anecdotal signs that the US may enforce this version more vigorously and interpret its provisions more widely than in the past.

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20443399-2703,00.html

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[Demeter]

1. The US Would Be Foolish to Impose Unilateral Sanctions

and Dubya is just the Unitary Fool to do it....