TruthNews

US State Department Moves To Enforce New Sanctions On Iran

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 28 July 2010

A US Congressman has announced that the US State Department will soon produce a list of foreign companies violating Iran-sanctions laws, an important step in a process that has seen many sanctions passed over the last three decades but few enforced.

"There has been sanctions legislation before. There have not been sanctions before," Ted Deutch (D-Florida) told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday. "You’ll see over the coming days and weeks a real emphasis on ensuring that the comprehensive bill that was just passed is actually implemented, that the timelines are met, that the companies are identified, that ultimately sanctions are imposed on those companies."

"I would say Congress is obsessed with this issue and relentless in getting their laws enforced, certainly in a way that we haven’t seen in 15 years" agreed Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

In related news, the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, which has been under construction for over 30 years, is finally scheduled to be switched on later this year.

"As has been planned, the preparatory work on the first phase of the physical launch must be finished by the end of August," said Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) Tuesday. "No-one is against the development of Iran's civilian nuclear program; the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant is being carried out under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency."

Construction at Bushehr was started in 1975 by a German consortium but was halted after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and the subsequent war with Iraq. Russian firms have been working on completing the project since 1998.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry lashed out at Western governments for supporting anti-government protesters on Tuesday.

"Countries that stand for democracy and human rights should avoid adopting hypocritical policies, respect the majority opinion, and not distort the facts," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Paras said. "Western countries will be associated only with discrimination and double-standards."

Finally, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Tuesday that family planning is an ungodly Western idea and that Iranian families should have as many children as possible, reversing a long standing policy of attempting to check the country’s exploding population growth. He also announced that the government would give generous cash payments to families for having children as well as depositing money into the newborn's bank account until they reach 18.

It is unclear where the money for the program would come from as Iran is already facing massive economic problems and the government is having trouble paying for basic services.