The sanctions appear to have been adapted from EU sanctions.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the new sanctions will restrict dealings with Iran’s oil, gas, petroleum and financial sectors. They will also restrict trade in gold, precious metals, diamonds and Iranian currency.
“These sanctions aim to increase pressure on Iran to comply with nuclear non-proliferation obligations and with United Nations Security Council resolutions,” Carr said in a statement last Wednesday.
“By introducing these sanctions—alongside others such as those of the European Union—we seek to bring Iran back to serious negotiations.”
The sanctions targeting Iran’s financial services sector prohibit any Iranian financial institution from being set up in Australia, and vice versa. They also prohibit any commercial relationship between Australian and Iranian financial institutions.
They come on top of Aus-tralia’s existing arms embargo and financial and travel sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities.
But the opposition demanded that the government go further and cancel plans to send two senior officials to the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran this week.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said Iran will use the visit by Prime Ministerial Special Envoy Joanna Hewitt and Australia’s Ambassador to the UN Gary Quinlan to claim greater international legitimacy.
“The government will be sending mixed messages if the visit by our officials takes place one week after imposing these sanctions,” Bishop said. “It is illogical for the government to impose travel bans on Iranian officials while dispatching senior Australian officials to Tehran.”
Bishop has accused the government of compromising its approach to Iran in pursuit of votes for a seat on the UN Security Council. Australia has been campaigning since 2008 for a two-year term on the Security Council. A vote at UN headquarters in New York in October will decide which country is successful.
The United States had no reaction to the Australian plan to attend the NAM meeting as a guest; it is not a NAM member. But the United States likely wants some friendly countries to attend and report back.