Iran may face further sanctions: Rice warns firms

Berlin, Jan 22: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saidcompanies should beware of doing business with Iran and think about thepossibility more sanctions will be imposed on it.

''I think people ought to think about the risk of doing businesswith Iran,'' Rice told Der Spiegel magazine, according to an Englishtranscript of the interview.

''I think people ought to think about the risk of furthersanctions. The United States is clearly sanctioning Iranian banks andour laws are very tough on those who deal with banks that we havesanctioned.'' The U N Security Council unanimously approved a sanctionsresolution on December 23 at the behest of the United States, Britain,Russia, China, France and Germany. The resolution gave Iran 60 days tosuspend nuclear fuel enrichment activity.

European Union foreign ministers meet tomorrow in Brussels toconsider how to ensure the sanctions are fully implemented, governmentand diplomatic sources said on Friday.

After joint talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, GermanChancellor Angela Merkel said both she and Russian President VladimirPutin were in agreement that taking Iran to the Security Council hadbeen the right thing to do.

''But we also agree that it is still important to make it clear toIran that the door to talks remains open, if Iran accepts the proposalof the European Union,'' Merkel said, referring to the EU's offer ofincentives last June in return for abandoning its nuclear enrichmentprogramme.

Putin called for ''a resolution of the nuclear problem using purely diplomatic methods''.

The U N sanctions resolution bans transfers of sensitive nuclearmaterials to Iran, freezes financial assets of those associated withthe nuclear programme and asks countries to pass on information aboutthe whereabouts of individuals on the list.

The EU may expand the list of people linked to Tehran's nuclear programme targeted by the U N resolution, sources said.

The U S Treasury has also named Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah as aproliferator of weapons of mass destruction and no U S company orcitizen is permitted do business with it.

European diplomats have said the United States is already thinkingabout further steps, one of which may be an oil embargo against Iran.

Asked what kinds of sanctions Washington would like imposed ifTehran ignores the 60-day deadline, Rice told Der Spiegel: ''We'll talkto the allies about what do in the next round.'' Rice repeated thatWashington considers Iran a troublemaker in neighbouring Iraq bysupporting insurgents with money and bombs. But she insisted Washingtonwas not looking for an escalation of the conflict with Tehran.

''We are not trying to escalate this. Our plan is to try torespond to Iranian activity that is harming us,'' Rice said in DerSpiegel in an interview published today.

She also repeated that Washington was not interested in talking with Iran and Syria about the future of Iraq.

''If the Iranians and the Syrians wish to support stability in Iraq, there are plenty of ways for them to do it,'' Rice said.

''The only reason to talk to us would be to extract a price, and that's not diplomacy, that's extortion.''

Reuters>