Japan: Government eyeing financial sanctions on Iran

Government eyeing financial sanctions on Iran
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The government is considering imposing financial sanctions on Iran if it continues to reject demands from world powers, including the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, that it scrap its nuclear program, including uranium enrichment, sources said Saturday.
The government would ban the remittance of money from Japan to Iran under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law if Iran refuses to comply with the demands, the sources said.
Japan has maintained a stance of seeking a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear problem. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday expressed his intention to reject the offer of a package of incentives for Iran, agreed by the five Security Council members and Germany, in return for his country ending its uranium enrichment activities.
The government has therefore started discussing the imposition of financial sanctions.
A senior Foreign Ministry official said, "It would be impossible for Japan to be the sole country to oppose sanctions declared by the United Nations or the U.S.-led 'coalition of the willing.'"
High-ranking officials from Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States met in London in late May to discuss the Iran nuclear problem and possible mechanisms for imposing sanctions on Tehran.
Another senior Foreign Ministry official said, "Japan has been discussing with the United States at various levels, through the London meeting and on other occasions, the scope of a ban by Japan on [financial] transactions with Iran if sanctions were to be imposed on the country."
If Tokyo participates in the sanctions, it is possible that Tehran would retaliate by halting crude oil exports.
That would have serious implications for the Japanese economy because this country depends on Iran for about 15 percent of its crude oil imports.
In addition, the imposition of sanctions likely would hamper the joint development of the Azadegan oil field in Iran by the two nations.
In spite of such concerns, the government is considering financial sanctions against Iran because the United States has been increasingly critical of Japan's stance on the Iran crisis.
A high-ranking U.S. government official said Japan was being too soft on Iran because it attaches too much importance to its economic interests.
Another senior Foreign Ministry official said: "If Japan demands that North Korea stop its nuclear development program but continues to take a soft line toward Iran, that would be seen by the international community as a double standard. As things stand, Japan is setting a bad example to the international community."
But Japan's participation in sanctions against Iran is still seen as the worst-case scenario.
The government remains hopeful that a solution to the dispute can be found through diplomatic means, the sources said.
(Jun. 4, 2006) http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20060604TDY01002.htm