New Iran sanctions: why President Obama is tightening the screws

One of Obama’s orders Tuesday was for the Treasury Department to impose sanctions against the Bank of Kunlun in China and Elaf Islamic Bank in Iraq for facilitating financial services with Iranian banks already under international sanctions for their connection to Iran’s international proliferation or terrorism activities.

The other order also seeks to crack down on Iran’s use of alternative forms of payment, include barter, to get around international sanctions that are making it harder for Iran to collect for the oil and petroleum products it is selling.

The new executive orders also come as Congress finishes up work on yet another set of sanctions and other measures against Iran. The new legislation, which congressional leaders say they expect to pass before Congress goes on August recess Friday, calls on Obama to officially designate supreme leader Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as human rights abusers, and would make it the policy of the US to offer political asylum to jailed Iranian dissidents and to call for their release by name.

Rhodes said there was “absolutely not” an effort by the White House to forestall the latest congressional efforts in light of continuing international diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement with Iran.

One area of potential disagreement is that the proposed legislation speaks of preventing Iran from acquiring a “nuclear capability,” which is different from current Obama’s stance – which is that Iran must be prevented “from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” as Rhodes said. Acquiring nuclear capability might potentially set a lower bar for triggering action.

But Rhodes also hinted at a toughening in the Obama White House approach to Iran, when he repeatedly cited existing United Nations Security Council resolutions that demand Iran’s “full suspension of enrichment activities.”

Earlier this year some White House officials had suggested that the US might be prepared to accept some low level of uranium enrichment for power-generation purposes, in exchange for a verifiable suspension of the higher-grade enrichment Iran is now pursuing. That puts it closer to obtaining the fuel it would need for a nuclear weapon.

Tuesday’s references to “suspending all enrichment” – a position that Israel’s Netanyahu has insisted on – suggests that perhaps the White House is publicly toughening its stance on Iran as the presidential campaign swings into full gear. 

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