U.S. imposes sweeping sanctions on Iran

updated 3:00 p.m. ET Oct. 25, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration imposed sweeping new sanctions against Iran Thursday — the harshest in nearly three decades — cutting off key Iranian military and banking institutions from the American financial system for Tehran’s alleged support for terrorism and nuclear weapons ambitions.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday quickly opposed the use of sanctions. "Why worsen the situation by threatening sanctions and bring it to a dead end?" Putin said. "It's not the best way to resolve the situation by running around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand."

Putin said the standoff around Iran's nuclear program needs to be resolved through talks, pointing at North Korea as an example. "Not long ago it didn't seem possible to resolve the situation with North Korea peacefully," but the dispute has been solved, he said.

In the broadest U.S. unilateral penalties on Iran since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979, the administration slapped sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, a main unit of its defense ministry, three of its largest banks and eight people that it said are engaged in missile trade and back extremist groups throughout the Middle East.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the moves would further isolate the Islamic republic’s government by further distancing it from the international economy and discouraging its trading partners from continuing to do business with it.

At the same time, they stressed that offers for negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program remain on the table and that the sanctions are not a sign of imminent military action. The U.S. officials insist — over Iranian denials — that the nuclear program is a cover for atomic weapons development.

“Unfortunately, the Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations, instead threatening peace and security,” through its nuclear program, production and export of ballistic missiles and backing for Shiite insurgents in Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, Rice said.

U.S.: Committed to a 'diplomatic solution'
The United States has long labeled Iran a state supporter of terrorism and has been working for years to gain support for tougher sanctions from the international community aimed at keeping the country from developing nuclear weapons. It has won two U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions but a third has been held up by Chinese and Russian opposition.

Rice, who also noted Iran’s hardline anti-Israel stance, said the moves were part of “a comprehensive policy to confront the threatening behavior of the Iranians” but that Washington remains committed to “a diplomatic solution.”

Other officials echoed that sentiment, maintaining the announcement is not a prelude to armed conflict with Iran despite concerns from some allies that the administration is building a case for war.

“In no way, shape of form does it anticipate the use of force,” said Nicholas Burns, the State Department’s No. 3 diplomat.

Instead, officials said they hope the measures will increase pressure on Iran to take a deal offered last year that would give the oil-rich country economic and other incentives in exchange for dropping nuclear activities that could produce a bomb.

Iranian dismisses impact of sanctions
In Tehran, the Guards’ chief, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, shrugged off increased U.S. pressure on the force.

“Today, enemy has concentrated sharp point of its attacks on the Guards,” Jafari told a military ceremony in Mashhad, east of Tehran, according to the state news agency IRNA. “They have applied all their efforts to reduce the efficiency of this revolutionary body. Now as always, the corps is ready to defend the ideals of the revolution more than ever before.”

Israel, on the other hand, said it was pleased.

“Israel welcomes the U.S. government’s decision,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said in Jerusalem. “We see this as an important contribution to the international effort to intensify pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program.”

MORE FROM MIDEAST & N. AFRICA

Mideast & N. Africa Section Front

Report: U.K. documents detail Iraq war chaos Egypt's president warns Israel over Jerusalem Iran begins war games to protect nuclear sites Iran releases ex-official on bail in mass trial Iraq PM ramps up Baathist attacks before vote Mideast & N. Africa Section Front   Add Mideast & N. Africa headlines to your news reader: