Sanctions against Iran's guards shows war is imminent

October 25, 2007

Washinton, DC - New economic sanctions against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were announced Thursday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the Bush administration prepares for war against Iran.

New economic sanctions against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were announced Thursday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the Bush administration prepares for war against Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is being designated by the United States as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and the Quds force as a supporter of terrorism.

The sanctions will help the United States block financial accounts and assets that the Revolutionary Guard has in the United States, a State Department official said.

The Quds Force is blamed by the U.S. military for training and arming Shiite militias in Iraq and smuggling highly lethal explosives into Iraq, where they are used to attack coalition forces. Iran denies the charge.

Previous sanctions imposed by the United States have been tied to Iran's nuclear program. The United States believes Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, a claim that the Islamic republic denies, saying its program is for peaceful purposes only.

Last month, representatives of world powers announced that unless a November report shows a "positive outcome" of talks with Iran about its uranium enrichment program, they will move ahead with plans for a resolution imposing additional sanctions on the country.

The announcement came out of a meeting of what the participants termed the "P5 plus two." The meeting included Rice and the foreign ministers of the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (Britain, China, France and Russia), along with the foreign minister of Germany and Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief who has held nuclear talks with Iran.

The Security Council has repeatedly demanded that Iran suspend enrichment of uranium and has imposed limited sanctions on Tehran for refusing to comply. The United States has been trying to cut Iran off from the international financial system and the European Union is weighing its own unilateral sanctions.