Mixed results for US in effort to broaden Iran sanctions

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US efforts to widen United Nations sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program are meeting resistance from some permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as with other nations. The United States wants to expand sanctions beyond just the current focus on the Middle Eastern nations nuclear ambitions and missile development to inflict damage on Irans wider economy.Among the sanctions the administration of US President George W. Bush wants put into place are a ban on all arms exports and a blacklist of all companies that do business with the Revolutionary Guards. But China and Russia have raised objections to such an expansion of sanctions, while Germany has expressed displeasure over proposed blocking of new credit lines and export guarantees.In addition to the efforts to put stricter UN sanctions in place, the US has also been trying to talk individual countries and companies in Europe into refraining from doing business in Iran. According to at least one US official, Treasury undersecretary Stuart Levey, the Bush administration is happy with how that process is going. Mr. Levey said in remarks to a group in Dubai that some major European banks have reduced or stopped doing business with Iran.Mr. Levey emphasized in his talk that the US is particularly concerned with he characterized as the Revolutionary Guards growing influence on and control of the Iranian economy, as well as its backing of Hizbollah in Lebanon. The US considers Hizbollah to be a terrorist organization, a view the European Union does not share.