Washington Levies Sanctions for WMD-Related Transfers to Iran
The Bush administration imposed sanctions on 12 Chinese, Moldavian,
and Armenian firms and individuals May 9 for transferring items
to Iran that could assist Tehran with missile development or the
production of chemical or biological weapons.
The administration levied the sanctions under the Iran Nonproliferation
Act of 2000, which mandates penalties for entities that transfer
to Iran equipment and technology controlled under multilateral export
control regimes. These informal arrangements include the Australia
Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime, which seek to coordinate
member states’ policies on chemical and biological weapons-related
and missile-related exports, respectively.
The sanctions, which are effective for two years, specifically
bar the U.S. government from providing assistance to or engaging
in business with any of the sanctioned entities, and they effectively
prevent U.S. companies from doing so. Several of the entities are
already under U.S. sanctions, but at a May 16 press conference State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that imposing further
penalties served to extend the time the entities remain under sanctions.
Little information about the transfers that triggered the sanctions
is publicly available. According to a U.S. official, the State Department
is “not in a position to describe the transfers or the roles
of the entities in them.”
However, according to intelligence officials cited in a May 20
Washington Times article, some of the transfers by Chinese entities
involved glass-lined equipment, which could be used while developing
chemical weapons. The report also cited officials claiming that
other Chinese entities were sanctioned for selling cruise missile
components to Iran.
Of the eight penalized Chinese entities, Liyang Chemical Equipment
Company, China National Machinery and Electric Equipment Import
and Export Company, and Chinese citizen Q. C. Chen were sanctioned
in January for transfers controlled by the Australia Group. At that
time, the State Department said Chen had provided assistance to
Iran’s chemical weapons program. (See
ACT, March 2002.)
The administration is also sanctioning Zibo Chemical Equipment
Plant, most likely for chemical weapon-related transfers; Wha Cheong
Tai Company; China Shipbuilding Trading Company; China National
Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation; and China Precision
Machinery Import/Export Corporation, which was sanctioned in June
1991 for transferring M-11 short-range missiles to Pakistan.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced the U.S. sanctions as “unreasonable”
and emphasized Beijing’s strict adherence to its international
export control obligations.
Although Chinese entities have been extensively penalized in the
past for transfers of weapons of mass destruction-related technology
to the Middle East, the new measures mark the first time that Moldavian
and Armenian entities have been sanctioned.
A May 9 Reuters report quoted a senior administration official
suggesting that the Armenian and Moldavian companies were fronts
for Russian entities. However, in an interview another administration
official denied the connection, stating that there is “no evidence
that these entities are acting as fronts for other entities or any
government.”
Citing Moldavian government sources, BASA-press, a Moldavian news
agency, reported on May 17 that one of the newly sanctioned companies,
Cuanta, SA no longer exists. The report described Cuanta as a military
research facility that was once a manufacturer of sophisticated
telecommunications systems for guided missiles. The Bush administration
also sanctioned Cuanta’s former manager, Mikhail Pavlovich
Vladov.
Armenia’s Lizen Open Joint Stock Company and Armenian national
Armen Sargsian were also penalized. At a May 18 press conference,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian confirmed that Lizen sold
certain materials to Iran but said the company did not intend “to
assist the weapons of mass destruction production or research in
other countries.” Oskanian said the company was “probably
told at some point that it could lead to problems for them, but,
nevertheless, they apparently chose to go ahead with the sale, and
they are now included in that list.”
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