US in new bid to curb WMD

2005-06-27 12:57

Washington - The US government has a new plan to freeze US assets of individuals or companies doing business with entities in Iran, North Korea and Syria thought to be involved in weapons programmes, The Washington Post said on Monday.

US officials hope President George W Bush will sign an executive order to that affect before attending the Group of Eight summit in Scotland in early July, the report said, citing officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An internal government memo obtained by the Post described the new tool to halt the spread of weapons "by authorising the blocking or 'freezing' of assets of WMP proliferators and their supporters".

The report cited a government list of eight entities to be targeted by the order. Four are Iranian, including Iran's energy department; three are North Korean; and one is a Syrian government research facility.

Three of the eight have previously been targets of US sanctions, but "none is subject to any international sanctions, and the entities freely conduct business with companies around the world", the Post said.

The order goes beyond previous measures by threatening US assets of individuals and companies that do business with those on the list, the Post noted.

"If there is a bank in some European capital that is participating in working with one of the entities and that bank has some assets in the US, it is conceivable that some action could be taken to the bank's assets here," a senior US official was quoted as saying.

Russian and Chinese companies could be more affected than others because they do so much business with Iran and North Korean, officials told the Post.

- AFP