WASHINGTON: A US law, that the State Department says can be used against Pakistan if it finalises the gas pipeline deal, forbids any major investment in Iran’s energy sector.
The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, as explained by the Congressional Research Service, requires the US president to:
Impose sanctions “if a person has, with actual knowledge, made an investment of $20 million or more that directly and significantly contributed to Iran's ability to develop its petroleum resources.”
The sanctions will also apply on “any combination of investments of at least $5 million which in the aggregate equals or exceeds $20 million in any 12-month period.”
The act also directs the US President to impose sanctions if a person has, with actual knowledge, sold, leased, or provided to Iran “any goods, services, technology, information, or support that would allow Iran to maintain or expand its domestic production of refined petroleum resources, including any assistance in refinery construction, modernisation, or repair.”
Sanctions will also apply if a person has, with actual knowledge, provided Iran with refined petroleum resources or “engaged in any activity that could contribute to Iran's ability to import refined petroleum resources, including providing shipping, insurance, or financing services for such activity.”
Sanctions established under this Act are in addition to any sanctions already imposed under the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996.
The 2010 act establishes additional sanctions prohibiting specified foreign exchange, banking, and property transactions.
The 2010 Act extended US economic sanctions placed on Iran under the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 and punishes companies and individuals who aid Iran's petroleum sector.
It is part of a larger US campaign to target the Iranian petroleum industry with the aim to force Iran to abandon its nuclear programme. The act was passed by the House (408-8) and Senate (99-0) on June 24, 2010 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 1, 2010.
As the US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said on Monday, the act forced the European Union and Japan to drastically reduce their dependence on Iranian oil.
“In the case of the EU, they’re now at zero. In the case of Japan, they’ve been making a steady decline, as have other countries that we have waived sanctions on,” she said,
But the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, if finalised, “would take Pakistan in the wrong direction right at a time that we’re trying to work with Pakistan on better, more reliable ways to meet its energy needs.”
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mr Obama said that the US-sponsored economic sanctions were “crippling the Iranian economy” which was now “in shambles."
In recent congressional debates, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers hoped the sanctions will soon force Iran to give up its nuclear programme.
They also claimed that the sanctions had triggered such widespread discontent in Iran that the regime could be toppled in a popular revolt.
An Israeli foreign minister document, leaked recently, reported that Iranian energy exports had fallen by 50 per cent after the European Union joined the United States last year in imposing an oil embargo on Iran.
US officials and diplomatic sources in Washington say that allowing Pakistan to finalise the pipeline deal will reduce the impact of the sanctions by allowing Iran to export its gas. That’s why, they argue, Washington is opposing the deal.
But a report posted on a popular US news site noted that the sanctions were hurting the Iranian people, not the government. The sanctions were making the Iranian currency “increasingly worthless,” the report added. The currency, Rial, has dropped 80 per cent in just the past year.
“This was making it hard for Iranians to procure medicine from overseas. The price of an imported wheelchair has increased ten-fold in just a year. The price for a cancer patient to receive chemotherapy has nearly tripled, and filters for kidney dialysis are up by 325 per cent,” said the report while urging the United States to ease the sanctions.
Comments (47)
'its US law --- whatever". go tell this to our Saudi Masters. the next government is of sharifs who are Saudi Slaves. I guess we should be investing all we can on civilian nuclear technologies and take the most leverage of this war on terror/Iran nuclear crisis situation that US is finding out herself in at the moment.
when's the time to develop our own gas fields? what has the government done for that? well, the hurdle had been the baloch insurgency - the same baloch insurgency which will attack this pipeline on daily basis. if we can sort out this problem - balochistan only has 1 trillion dollar of minerals which can be developed if we don't make our allies angry.
furthermore we should start investing on sustainable energies - this gas thing has been in talks for decades and no matter what it will still be nowhere in next 2 decades. what even if we power our grids with this gas in coming 2-4 years? it might be viable in short-run, but then when the time will come to deal with the US or EU on something viable cost effective (sustainable energy platforms, nuclear energy, minerals development, export restrictions, export quotas) this very IRAN-PAK gas pipeline will be the dagger slaying our backs.
bottomline: don't mess with the Americans. specially right now when the time is to milk the cow!.
Pakistan is not a sovereign state in relation to USA, just like any other state in the world, except maybe China.
the best thing is to stand and face the US - but on our terms things will go down in the near future but gradually improve in the long term.
Americans have a dirty habit of poking their nose in every country. We should move on with the deal (remembering to make the price more economical for the people of pakistan) and join hands with China, Iran, and other strong muslim countries The USA will scratch its head
Are you sure that Pakistan would do well without aid?
since a very, very long time, but nobody cares as long as the slave 'earns' his daily bread.
Perhaps the headline should have been different. If we read past the headline it becomes clear that the law does not (and obviously can not) literally forbid other countries from anything. It forbids their President (in a way) from dealing with countries that deal with Iran.
the us is living in a fool's paradise!