Analysis: Iran Undeterred by DPRK Sanctions
Council on Foreign Relations
October 20, 2006
Prepared by: Lionel Beehner
In the coming weeks, the United Nations will likely receive a draft outlining sanctions against Iran (WashPost). Whether this document will call for limited sanctions or strong ones—targeting Iran’s oil and gas sectors—remains to be seen. But Russia, which enjoys healthy trade ties with Iran, hinted recently that it has no intention of sanctioning Tehran or threatening the use of force. On a recent visit to Moscow, when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pressed Russia to relent on the issue of Iran, President Vladimir Putin gave him no reassurances (al-Jazeera).
Russia, experts say, is the linchpin to enforcing compliance from Iran. “ China is to North Korea what Russia is to Iran,” says Karim Sadjadpour of the International Crisis Group in this Backgrounder. Russia has extensive energy and economic ties there. Both Russia and China have shied away from sanctions and reiterate that diplomacy remains their preferred approach.
The UN Security Council quickly slapped sanctions against North Korea after its brazen nuclear test. Though limited in scope and weak in enforcement, experts say the sanctions were partially intended to send Tehran a message. Yet it remains unclear if North Korea’s test, and the diplomatic fallout it caused, will embolden or deter Iran from pursuing its own nuclear program.
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.
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