I thought these countries had to AGREE to sanctions .. but this appears to be top down...... http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Controls/SendFriend.ashx?print=1&type=0&item=151698 U.S. Sanctions 3 Companies for Selling Oil Products to Iran Washington places sanctions on companies from China, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates for selling refined oil products to Iran. Elad Benari Washington on Thursday placed sanctions on three companies from China, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates for selling refined oil products to Iran, AFP reported. The Treasury placed sanctions on Zhuhai Zhenrong Co. of China, which it called the largest supplier of refined petroleum products to Iran, the report said. The sanctions came a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met Chinese leaders on how to boost pressure on Tehran to halt its nuclear weapons program. The other two companies to be hit with sanctions were Singapore trader Kuo Oil and the UAEs FAL Oil Co., AFP reported. Under the sanctions, all three companies are barred from receiving U.S. export licenses, trade support from the U.S. Export Import Bank, and loans over $10 million from U.S. financial institutions. According to the Treasury, Zhuhai Zhenrong brokered the delivery of more than $500 million in gasoline to Iran between July 2010 and January 2011, far higher than thresholds the U.S. had set for allowable deals. Kuo, the Treasury said, did $25 million in refined petroleum business with Iran in late 2010 and early 2011, while FAL provided $70 million in refined products to Iran in late 2010, also breaking the thresholds. The United States is working with international partners to maintain pressure on the Government of Iran to comply with its international nuclear obligations, the Treasury was quoted as having said. Earlier on Thursday, Iran said it was ready to discuss allegations that it was involved in secret nuclear weapons work. The announcement comes after years in which Iran blocked the IAEAs attempts to follow up on U.S. and other intelligence alleging covert Iranian work on nuclear arms for more than three years. The Islamic Republic dismissed the charges as baseless and insisted its nuclear activities were peaceful and under IAEA purview. A senior UN nuclear agency team will visit Tehran on January 28 following Irans announcement. In November, the IAEA released a report saying it had credible intelligence Iran is seeking nuclear weapons technology. www.israelnationalnews.com
LOL I'm all assured everything will work out good! Gietner is on the case! LOL what a joke of a Administration.
I would send a failure like Gietner over to China, that'll fix everything! In all seriousness? Don't know but likely wouldn't send a failure like Gietner to a failed state like China to deal with a rogue Nation like Iran over something that may or may not be true. I suppose we can send Hillary to Russia, oh wait is she even the SOS still? Oh wait, we can attack foriegn companies and make them the boogie man, or hell lets just blame Bush and the magical Republicans! Yet in all seriousness I would increase our oil production and try to get Canada to sell us oil instead of making issues like the Keystone Pipeline a political ball and force Canada to sell their oil to China. Isreal is likely the one Nation that can actually do anything about this an historically speaking do act much like our proxy in the ME. I'm thinking deep down that Saudia's, and most Nations over there don't want a Nuclear Arm Iran in their mist, so that is always good cover but no, not with this Administration.
Oh I see, why is the US in the middle of this along with most of Europe, well that goes back some time! I am thinking it had something to do with the Sister's and WW2.
I don't see how Israel has ever acted as a US proxy.... And, I know the Saudis are upset.. They have been calling for a nuke free ME for decades to no avail. I wouldn't rubber stamp Keystone without some serious study.. My sense of it is that its a boondoggle and we are being quick marched into it for the benefit of TransCanada. By-passing existing refineries in the Mid West makes NO sense to me.
If you are trying to say that 90 plus percent of oil shouldn't be located in one general region I might agree. Yet I doubt the few Refineries left in the MW would have the ability to refine the amount of Oil we are talking about. I betcha most of those refineries deal with local "Recipe" complications that should be ended today!
TransCanadas Keystone, in operation for just over a year, has already had a dozen spills. And an Enbridge pipeline rupture in Michigans Kalamazoo River last year caused the biggest oil spill in Midwest history. An ExxonMobil Corp. pipeline last year spilled oil into Montanas Yellowstone River. Under U.S. federal pressure, BP PLC finally is rehabilitating a Prudhoe Bay network of pipelines that have spilled millions of gallons of oil. Do the operators even know exactly what caused those breaks? Whats being done to anticipate and prevent spills across almost 4,000 km of proposed additional pipeline? We know that sand- and stone-laden tar-sands oil is more corrosive to pipe than conventional crude. What provisions, by way of sturdier pipe, have been made for that? Heavy-oil spills are much tougher to clean up than conventional crude. Surface skimmers, booms and vacuums used in spills are of little use since heavy oil quickly submerges and suffocates bottom-dwelling plant and animal life. http://www.thestar.com/business/art...e-questions-that-need-answers-before-approval