TEHRAN: The United States won key support from Japan on Thursday for tough oil sanctions against Iran over a nuclear programme that the West suspects is geared to developing atomic bombs.
Japan pledged to take concrete action to cut Iranian oil imports after visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged Tokyo, a major importer, to help deprive Iran of vital oil revenues. In Iran, sanctions are biting, with the rial currency losing 20 percent of value against the dollar in the past week.
Escalating tensions over Iran’s enrichment of uranium for nuclear energy, which has shifted to an underground mountain bunker better protected from possible air strikes, has raised fears for the flow of world oil supplies and even war.
An Iranian nuclear scientist was blown up in his car by a motorbike hitman on Wednesday. Tehran blamed Israeli and U.S. agents but insisted this would not derail its nuclear activity. Washington denied involvement in the attack and condemned it, while Israel declined comment.
The morning rush-hour bombing – the fifth daylight attack on technical experts in two years – killed 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan. The chemical engineer’s driver was also killed, Iranian media said, and a passer-by was slightly hurt. The attack came in a week of heightened tensions.Iran has launched an underground enrichment plant and sentenced an American to death for spying, while Washington and Europe have stepped up efforts to cripple Iran’s oil exports for its refusal to halt work the West says betrays an ambition to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful.
Tehran has threatened to choke the West’s supply of Gulf oil if its exports are hit by sanctions, drawing a U.S. warning that its navy is ready to open fire to prevent any blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 35 percent of the world’s seaborne traded oil passes.
In Tokyo, Geithner welcomed Japanese cooperation in tightening the screws on Iran, a positive sign for Washington after China and Russia rebuffed sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
China, Japan and India are Iran’s top three buyers, taking more than 40 percent of its crude exports. The European Union, which collectively buys another fifth or so of Iran’s exported crude, has committed to banning imports of oil from Tehran, an OPEC member and the world’s No. 5 crude exporter.EU diplomats said on Wednesday they were advancing toward agreement on banning imports of crude after a six-month grace period and banning petrochemical products after three – provisions similar to U.S. new legislation. It was likely, however, that EU firms could continue to take Iranian oil in payment for outstanding debts.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he shared serious concerns about Iran’s nuclear capabilities but expressed concern that the sanctions could seriously affect the Japanese and world economies, depending on how they were implemented.
President Barack Obama’s administration has also announced that it would freeze out financial institutions that deal with Iran’s central bank out of U.S. markets.
“We are exploring ways to cut Iran’s central bank off from the global financial system. We are in the early stages of consulting with Japan and our other allies,” Geithner told reporters after the talks with Japanese leaders. (Reuters)