Embargoes Iran

Japan notified the United States that it will not join a U.S. embargo of Iran, a Foreign Ministry official said. President Clinton announced the embargo April 30, accusing Iran of supporting terrorism. The embargo bans all U.S. investment in and trade with Iran. The Japanese ministry official, who requested anonymity, said Kensaku Hogen, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau, told the U.S.

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would sharply toughen U.S. economic sanctions on Iran despite administration calls for Congress to delay penalties that could disrupt diplomacy aimed at resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Advocates say the Senate proposal could, at least in theory, block Iran from accessing about one-third of the foreign exchange reserves it relies on to pay for government programs, to finance trade and to prop up its currency.

Oil prices hit a nine-month high Monday in the wake of President Clinton's announcement of a trade ban with Iran, but experts anticipate little long-term impact on oil markets or for the relatively small group of U.S. companies that still do business with Iran. Clinton's plan to ban all U.S. investment in and trade with Iran carries a tough message to the Tehran regime, but it probably will disrupt oil and other markets for only a short time, analysts said.

To his defenders, Mahmoud Reza Banki is the accomplished son of Iranian American parents, with degrees from UC Berkeley and Princeton and a business acumen that made him the logical person in the family to trust with more than $3 million. "My family is unusually generous to me, certainly beyond what is customary among U.S. families," Banki, 33, told federal authorities after they asked about the hundreds of thousands of dollars dropping into his bank account. Banki said the money came from his cousin Ali in Tehran.

Poland has agreed to stop selling military equipment to Iran but will honor an existing contract for tanks, starting with a shipment of about 100 Soviet-designed T-72s, Clinton Administration officials said Wednesday. Although the U.S. government failed to block the tank deal, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the Administration was "pleased by . . . the decision by the Polish government to close out this particular contract . . . and then to refrain from all future sales."

The owner of a Newport Beach firm and a company manager were indicted Thursday on charges of illegally exporting to Iran electronic testing and measuring equipment that could be used to develop missile guidance systems and nuclear weapons. Reza (Ray) Amiri, 43, an Iranian national and owner of Ray Amiri Computer Consultants, and Mohammed (Don) Danesh, 55, the firm's operations manager, were charged in a 17-count indictment in federal court in Los Angeles. The men were arrested Aug.

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would sharply toughen U.S. economic sanctions on Iran despite administration calls for Congress to delay penalties that could disrupt diplomacy aimed at resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Advocates say the Senate proposal could, at least in theory, block Iran from accessing about one-third of the foreign exchange reserves it relies on to pay for government programs, to finance trade and to prop up its currency.

Here is a chronology of significant events leading up to the disclosure Tuesday that some proceeds from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran were diverted to the rebels fighting the Marxist Sandinista government of Nicaragua: Nov. 4, 1979--Militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and hold 52 Americans hostage for the next 14 months, triggering a U.S. embargo on the shipment of arms and spare parts to the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

China's foreign minister told President Reagan today that his government is concerned about the Iran-Iraq War and supports an arms embargo against the Tehran regime, a White House spokesman said. Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the Administration also accepts China's declaration that it no longer is selling Silkworm missiles to Iran, although it remains a supplier of conventional arms.

The Bush Administration, convinced that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, has called for a total embargo on the transfer of nuclear technology to the Tehran regime, the State Department's top Middle East expert said Wednesday. Assistant Secretary of State Edward P.

Japan notified the United States that it will not join a U.S. embargo of Iran, a Foreign Ministry official said. President Clinton announced the embargo April 30, accusing Iran of supporting terrorism. The embargo bans all U.S. investment in and trade with Iran. The Japanese ministry official, who requested anonymity, said Kensaku Hogen, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau, told the U.S.

Poland has agreed to stop selling military equipment to Iran but will honor an existing contract for tanks, starting with a shipment of about 100 Soviet-designed T-72s, Clinton Administration officials said Wednesday. Although the U.S. government failed to block the tank deal, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the Administration was "pleased by . . . the decision by the Polish government to close out this particular contract . . . and then to refrain from all future sales."

Oil prices hit a nine-month high Monday in the wake of President Clinton's announcement of a trade ban with Iran, but experts anticipate little long-term impact on oil markets or for the relatively small group of U.S. companies that still do business with Iran. Clinton's plan to ban all U.S. investment in and trade with Iran carries a tough message to the Tehran regime, but it probably will disrupt oil and other markets for only a short time, analysts said.

The Bush Administration, convinced that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, has called for a total embargo on the transfer of nuclear technology to the Tehran regime, the State Department's top Middle East expert said Wednesday. Assistant Secretary of State Edward P.

The owner of a Newport Beach firm and a company manager were indicted Thursday on charges of illegally exporting to Iran electronic testing and measuring equipment that could be used to develop missile guidance systems and nuclear weapons. Reza (Ray) Amiri, 43, an Iranian national and owner of Ray Amiri Computer Consultants, and Mohammed (Don) Danesh, 55, the firm's operations manager, were charged in a 17-count indictment in federal court in Los Angeles. The men were arrested Aug.

China's foreign minister told President Reagan today that his government is concerned about the Iran-Iraq War and supports an arms embargo against the Tehran regime, a White House spokesman said. Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the Administration also accepts China's declaration that it no longer is selling Silkworm missiles to Iran, although it remains a supplier of conventional arms.

To his defenders, Mahmoud Reza Banki is the accomplished son of Iranian American parents, with degrees from UC Berkeley and Princeton and a business acumen that made him the logical person in the family to trust with more than $3 million. "My family is unusually generous to me, certainly beyond what is customary among U.S. families," Banki, 33, told federal authorities after they asked about the hundreds of thousands of dollars dropping into his bank account. Banki said the money came from his cousin Ali in Tehran.

For many years, France and the U.S. have suffered periods of tense relations due to divergent policies toward countries designated by Washington as "rogue states," generally Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea. The "rogue state" concept itself, which does not have any satisfactory translation in the French language, has been at the heart of the dispute. The U.S.

Here is a chronology of significant events leading up to the disclosure Tuesday that some proceeds from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran were diverted to the rebels fighting the Marxist Sandinista government of Nicaragua: Nov. 4, 1979--Militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and hold 52 Americans hostage for the next 14 months, triggering a U.S. embargo on the shipment of arms and spare parts to the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.