Rudd talks tough on Iran, ramps up oil sanctions
IN A show of solidarity with Europe, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd this week announced Australia would impose further sanctions on Iran over its nuclear weapons program.
IN A show of solidarity with Europe, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd this week announced Australia would impose further sanctions on Iran over its nuclear weapons program.
Speaking at the Australia-UK ministerial (AUKMIN) talks on defence in London, Rudd reiterated Australia’s support for sanctions, adding that the Iranian regime’s wilful disregard of calls to halt its nuclear program was “globally unacceptable”.
Rudd’s announcement followed moves in by the European Union in Brussels on Monday to ban Iranian oil imports from July, bringing further pressure to bear on Tehran.
“The actions taken in Brussels yesterday on sanctions by the European Union, we in Australia will undertake precisely the same parallel action,” Rudd said.
“The government of Australia formally and fully supports the range of these sanctions which have been announced in Brussels. We, of course, will do the same for Australia. The Iranian nuclear weapons program is fundamentally destabilising not just the wider Middle East and Gulf states but also for the wider world.”
Rudd said new sanctions would extend to oil imports, adding that Australia’s trade with Iran had “declined massively” in recent years.
“The material impact on sanctions taken to date by Australia in relation to Iran – our exports to Iran have declined massively in recent times. So this is not a piece of idle philanthropy on the part of Australian foreign policy. This costs but it is a cost worth paying.”
US President Barak Obama said Washington would also ramp up sanctions to address “the serious threat presented by Iran’s nuclear program”.
“The United States will continue to impose new sanctions to increase the pressure on Iran,” Obama said in a statement.
Australia ramped up sanctions against Iran late last year following Tehran’s refused to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions on its nuclear ambitions.
The International Atomic Energy Agency last year released a report confirming that Iran’s nuclear program was aimed at developing weapons and not for power generation as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had claimed.
ADAM KAMIEN
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