|
Edited on Sat Apr-12-08 11:11 AM by stillcool47
Targeting Iran by Saman Sepehri International Socialist Review, November-December 20006 Why is Iran important? Iran is central to U.S. plans for reshaping the Middle East. It possesses a combination of energy resources, strategic location, economic potential, and political weight (as witnessed recently by its support of Hezbollah during the war on Lebanon) that no other country in the region can match. The architects of the Bush Doctrine have set as their goal prevention of any competitors (i.e., Europe, China, Russia, or Japan) from rising to a level to challenge U.S. hegemony in the future. An important part of this project is the control of strategic resources such as oil and natural gas, which the U.S. can use as a chokehold on its competitors.According to Oil and Gas Journal, Iran sits on top of the second largest untapped oil reserves in the world, 125.8 billion barrels , and also the second largest natural gas reserves (with Russia having the largest reserves). It has a capacity to almost double its present oil production with some investment in its oil industry, and 80 percent of its gas reserves are untapped. But to focus on Iran's energy resources is to miss its broader strategic importance in the area, and globally. With a population of seventy million, nearly three times that of Iraq or Saudi Arabia, a highly developed infrastructure, an educated and technically proficient population, and sizable armed forces, Iran is the dominant regional power in the Persian Gulf, where two-thirds of world's oil reserves lie. Despite years of pressure by the U.S. and until recently limited foreign investment, Iran has developed an economy that is larger than Israel's and twice the size of Egypt's or Pakistan's. Buoyed by high oil prices, Iran's economy has been growing at a robust rate of 7 percent over the past several years; the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increasing by 60 percent over just four years. European economies (notably France and Germany), China, and Japan have developed extensive ties with Iran, where recent privatization and joint ventures have created opportunities for investment. For example, French automakers Renault and Peugeot, Japan's Nissan, and Germany's Mercedes Benz have production lines in Iran, and are expanding operations to not only fulfill Iran's domestic market, but for exports to Asia, Africa, and Western Europe. Iran is also involved in joint auto ventures in China and Venezuela, and is expected to start auto exports to Croatia and Latin America next year. It is therefore no surprise that some of the European allies of the U.S., as well as China and Russia, are less enthusiastic about U.S.-peddled sanctions on Iran. The Wall Street Journal, in a September 21 article, highlighted Iran's trade ties, showing how any sanctions pushed by the U.S. would greatly affect Washington's European and Asian competitors: Through July of this year, the U.S. imported a minuscule $99 million of goods from Iran, while shipping to Iran $55 million of goods. The other Security Council members have seen their business with Iran increase. Their total trade with Iran is on track to top $22 billion this year, up from $18 billion in 2005. While part of the growth reflects the higher cost of Iran's oil, the trade is broader: Iran buys German steel, French cars, Russian armaments and Chinese air conditioners. The European Union accounts for more than a third of Iran's total trade with the world. China's exports to Iran have tripled in four years. While the U.S. would face little economic loss from sanctions on Iran, the cost would be far higher for other major powers. This year, China's exports to Iran are up 25 percent. Chinese companies shipped nearly $400 million of air conditioners, engines, washing machines and other such machinery to Iran in the first six months of 2006, as well as $300 million in tractors, trucks and other vehicles. Dozens of Chinese construction companies are engaged in Iran, on work ranging from Tehran's transit system and power plants to merchant ships. Meanwhile, in the first half of this year, energy-hungry China imported $5.16 billion of oil from Iran, a 56 percent increase from the pace of imports in 2005Germany is Iran's largest supplier of foreign goods, with exports last year of more than $5.4 billion. What concerns Washington is not only Iran's economic ties with U.S. competitors, but the way in which those ties are helping Iran to secure its role as a key regional power in the Middle East outside Washington's control. In February 2000, Iran set a goal of "Cooperation among Iran, Russia, India and China to confront the hegemonic policies of America," and it has implemented this foreign policy with economic, energy and military deals. Today, Russia is building Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant in the south and developing the security and defense systems for not only the Bushehr plant, but for all of Iran's enrichment facilities. China is not only a major trading partner and importer of Iranian oil and natural gas, but in 2004 China signed a deal with Iran worth as much as $100 billion, to buy Iranian oil and help develop Iran's giant natural gas fields. India is developing long-term energy ties with Iran, and helping upgrade Iran's military. In January 2005, Gas Authority of India, Limited (GAIL) signed a thirty-year deal worth $50 billion, which includes transfer of liquified natural gas as well as development of Iranian gas fields. More importantly, Iranian, Indian, and Pakistani officials are discussing a $4 billion pipeline project which would take Iranian gas via Pakistan to India, a real coup in relations between India and Pakistan-two long-term adversaries. Furthermore, India, has agreed to upgrade Iran's Russian-made MiG fighters and Kilo class submarines. India and Iran also held their first ever joint naval exercises in September 2004. The United States is trying to break this cooperation with the offer of nuclear energy assistance to India, under its new program of promoting nuclear energy in developing countries, called Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). This cooperation is designed to stop India's gas deal with Iran, and move India away from the developing China-Iran bloc. This deal has effectively rewritten the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by offering assistance to a non-signatory, India, which is prohibited under the NPT, while the U.S. is pursuing Iran for supposed violations of the same treaty. The lies and deception of the U.S. campaign about Iran's nuclear program have also escalated. An August 23 staff report of the House of Representatives Committee on Intelligence falsely reported that Iran was currently enriching "weapons grade Uranium" and removing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. These accusations provoked the IAEA to send an unprecedented letter to the U.S. Congress "taking strong exception" to the House of Representatives report on Iran's nuclear activities for containing "erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated information" and "outrageous and dishonest" suggestions.
Iran has also found a partner in challenging the U.S. in Venezuela. The previous administration of Iran's reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, and Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, forged close economic ties. Iran is investing in auto parts production, oil exploration and processing in Venezuela, and has also become a conduit for Chinese investment in Venezuela's oil industry. More importantly, Iran has teamed up with Venezuela's Chávez and Cuba to publicly challenge U.S. imperialism. Iran's current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spent several days in Caracas before traveling to Cuba with Chávez to attend the conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, and then the opening of the United Nations general session. Their speeches and promotion of the Non-Aligned Movement as a voice for the Third World in the United Nations and against imperial powers was well rehearsed, highly coordinated, and effective.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Iran/Targeting_Iran.html
|