Obama to Sign Strongest Ever U.S. Unilateral Sanctions Bill Against Iran

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today, Thursday, July 1, 2010:

Obama Set to Sign Iran Sanctions Bill: W. House - Agence France Presse [link]

• President Barack Obama is set to sign a sweeping package of tough new energy and financial sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, the White House has said.
• The new congressional measures aim to choke off Iran's access to imports of refined petroleum products like gasoline and jet fuel and curb its access to the international banking system.
• The US Senate and the House of Representatives approved the legislation -- aimed at forcing Tehran to halt its suspect nuclear program -- last week by crushing 99-0 and 408-8 margins, respectively.
• It could also see non-US banks doing business with certain blacklisted Iranian entities -- including Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and several banks -- shut out of the US financial system.
• And it would also for the first time require companies seeking US government contracts to certify that they and their subsidiaries do not do business with Iran, which denies charges it seeks nuclear weapons. 
  

Despite Arrests, Working to Rebuild Russia Ties - The New York Times [link]

• As prosecutors assemble their case [against 11 alleged Russian spies], Mr. Obama has resolved not to let the ghosts of the 20th century get in the way of his goals in the 21st.
• Mr. Obama’s administration said Wednesday that it would not expel Russian diplomats and it expressed no indignation that its putative partner was spying on it.
• It should come as little surprise, of course, that the two countries still spy on each other two decades after the end of the cold war. Even close allies like Israel have been caught spying here.
• Recent history shows that Washington and Moscow have been able to get past such moments when they were determined to pursue other agendas.

Dissuading Iran From Developing a Nuclear Weapon - Dominik Chilcott in The Hill's Congress Blog [link]

• The “twin track” [Iran] policy remains the most effective way to achieve our aim of upholding the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It simultaneously puts pressure on the Iranian regime, while continuing to offer them a path out through negotiation.
• Much of the debate in the commentary pages has focused on whether sanctions will be effective in dissuading Iran from trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
• Our discussion on Thursday evening highlighted a different point: What would it take for the Iranian regime to focus on the needs of its people instead of courting international condemnation and sanctions by pursuing a nuclear weapons programme?

U.N. Nuclear Agency's Top Inspector Resigns - Reuters [link]

• The U.N. nuclear agency said on Thursday its top inspector Olli Heinonen, head of investigations into Iran and Syria, has resigned for personal reasons after nearly 30 years at the Vienna-based organization.
• He is probably best known for giving a presentation to diplomats on Iran in 2008 which indicated links between projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.
• Since Heinonen joined the agency in 1983, a secret nuclear program was uncovered in Iran, North Korea left the Non-Proliferation Treaty and tested two nuclear devices, Israel bombed an alleged atomic site in Syria and Libya admitted to a covert nuclear bomb program and scrapped it.
• Heinonen, a low-key technical expert, has been head of safeguards since 2005 and was widely seen as the trusted right-hand man of Amano's predecessor Mohamed ElBaradei.