Reasons New Sanctions Should not be Imposed on Iran

The following is from The Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran’s website. This is a condensed form of the article “Fact Sheets of Iran-US Standoff: Twenty Reasons against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran”. It has been made significantly shorter and only the most vital points have been kept. The full article can be found at: http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/?q=node/2093


1 . There is no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran:
The US and its allies pressure Iran to prove that it is not hiding a nuclear weapons program. This demand is logically impossible to satisfy. 2,700 person-hours of inspection, have failed to produce a shred of evidence for a weapons program in Iran. And on August 27, 2007 the IAEA(International Atomic Energy Agency) announced that “The Agency has been able to verify the non-diversion of the declared nuclear materials at the enrichment facilities in Iran and has therefore concluded that it remains in peaceful use”. Former IAEA Deputy Director General for Safeguards, when asked the question if Iran was intent on building a nuclear bomb. He replied: "My impression is not. My view is based on the fact that Iran took a major gamble in December 2003 by allowing a much more intrusive capability to the IAEA. If Iran had had a military program they would not have allowed the IAEA to come under this Additional Protocol. They did not have to."

2. Iran 's need for nuclear power generation is real:
With Iran 's population of 70 million, and growing, nuclear energy is a realistic and viable solution for electricity generation in the country.

3. Enrichment of uranium for a civilian nuclear program is Iran 's right:
Every member of the NPT has the right to enrich uranium for a civilian nuclear program and is entitled to full technical assistance.

4. The hypocrisy of the West:
India has refused to sign the NPT(Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) or allow inspections and has developed an atomic arsenal, but receives nuclear assistance from the US in violation of the NPT. Israel is a close ally of Washington , even though it has hundreds of clandestine nuclear weapons, has dismissed numerous UN resolutions and has refused to sign the NPT or open any of its nuclear plants to inspections. The US has refused to reduce its nuclear arsenal, in violation of Article VI of NPT. The US is also in breach of the Treaty because it is developing new generations of nuclear warheads for use against non-nuclear adversaries. Moreover, Washington has deployed hundreds of such tactical nuclear weapons all around the world in violation of Articles I and II of the NPT.

5. Iran is a peaceful country:
Iran has not threatened Israel or attacked another country. Iran has not invaded or threatened any country for two and a half centuries. The only war the Islamic Republic fought was the one imposed by Saddam's army, which invaded Iran with the backing of the US and its allies. When Iraq used chemical weapons, supplied by the West, against Iranian troops, Iran did not retaliate in kind. The track records of the US , Israel , the UK and France are very different. These so called “democracies” have a bloody history of invading other countries. Iran 's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has declared repeatedly that Iran will not attack or threaten any country. He has also issued a fatwa against the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons and banned nuclear weapons as sacrilegious.

6. Sanctions are not effective:
Dr ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, has said that more sanctions are counterproductive. Economic sanctions on Iran will harm the people of Iran , as they were devastating to Iraqis, resulting in the death of at least 500,000 children. Sanctions would not however bring the Islamic Republic to its knees. Instead, any kind of sanctions, including the so-called "targeted" or "smart" sanctions, are viewed by the Iranian people as the West's punishment for Iran 's scientific progress (uranium enrichment for reactor fuel). As sanctions tighten, nationalist fervor will strengthen the resolve of Iranians to defend the country's civilian nuclear program.