When the giant roars – at his friends

It is most likely that the true value of the document is political, reminding FATF member-states that US objectives are important. It replaces another document released at the time of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when the US was also keen to dragoon others into endorsing its plans for the Middle East.

Despite the emphasis on the UN in these pages, the US has had a great deal of trouble persuading the international community to see things its way over Iran, as it had earlier over Iraq. In 2008 it was the only country that wanted to turn Iran into a complete pariah. Its stated reason for this over the years was twofold: that Iran was not fulfilling its obligations under the so-called Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; and that Hezbollah, which the US alleged that Iran was funding, was a terrorist organisation. Neither the United Nations nor the US’ own security services believed the first assertion; neither the UN nor most of the world's countries, including the UK, believed the second in toto. It took until 2010 before the US could persuade the European Union to impose heavy-handed sanctions on Iran's financial services, oil industry, shipping and other things.

The UN, for its part, has never imposed sanctions on Iran that are as sweeping as those put in place by the US. Only in March 2008 did a UN Security Council resolution attempt to stop publicly facilitated credit for trade with Iran from helping its nuclear programme and to watch Bank Melli and Bank Saderat with a view to stopping them from doing the same. Only in 2010 did it call on states to withhold financial services, and then only those that might help Iran do anything “proliferation-sensitive”.