Sanctions in force … Iran vows bypass

This news has been read 9520 times!

CHINA TO CONTINUE IRAN TRADE … HITS LONG-ARM JURISDICTION

WASHINGTON, Nov 5, (Agencies): The Trump administration’s tough new sanctions on Iran took effect on Monday but eight major importers of Iranian oil were spared from immediate penalties. The sanctions target Iran’s energy, financial and shipping sectors and are aimed at crippling the country’s economy following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. The measures restore all the US sanctions that had been lifted under the accord that gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them. They will also affect non-Iranian companies that deal with sanctioned Iranian firms and officials. In what the US said was the largest-single sanctions designation, the Treasury imposed penalties on more than 700 Iranian and Iranian-linked individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels.

The move brought to more than 900 the number of Iran-related targets sanctioned by the Trump administration in less than two years. Among those are 50 Iranian banks and subsidiaries, more than 200 people and ships, Iran’s state-run airline Iran Air and more than 65 of its planes. “Treasury’s imposition of unprecedented financial pressure on Iran should make clear to the Iranian regime that they will face mounting financial isolation and economic stagnation until they fundamentally change their destabilizing behavior,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

“The maximum pressure exerted by the United States is only going to mount from here. We are intent on making sure the Iranian regime stops siphoning its hard currency reserves into corrupt investments and the hands of terrorists.”

Cut off
Yet as the administration seeks to cut off Iran’s oil revenue completely it is allowing some of its closest allies — Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey — and rival China to continue to purchase Iranian oil as long as they work to reduce imports to zero. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the waivers, which expire in six months, were necessary to avoid disruption of world oil markets and to give the eight countries more time to eliminate their imports.

During those six months, the importing country can buy Iranian oil but must deposit Iran’s revenue in an escrow account. Iran can spend the money but only on a narrow range of humanitarian items. Seeking to deflect criticism from some Iran hawks concerned that the sanctions don’t go far enough, Pompeo stressed that US pressure on countries to stop buying Iranian oil had already reduced its exports by more than a million barrels of crude per day. “Rest assured, Iran will never get close to obtaining a nuclear weapon under President Trump’s watch,” he said. Pompeo also said limited waivers had been issued to allow European and other firms to continue conversion work on two of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the 2015 deal, one of former president Barack Obama’s biggest diplomatic achievements, as the “worst ever” negotiated by the United States, saying it gave Iran too much in return for too little. But proponents as well as the other parties to the deal — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union — have vehemently defended it.

The Europeans have mounted a drive to save the agreement without the US, fearing that the new sanctions will drive Iran to pull out and resume all of its nuclear work. A defiant Iran, meanwhile, said it will “proudly bypass” sanctions by the United States that took effect on Monday targeting the Islamic republic’s vital oil and financial sectors. The measures described by Washington as “the toughest sanctions ever” come six months after Trump’s controversial decision to abandon the multi-nation nuclear deal with Tehran.

“I announce that we will proudly bypass your illegal, unjust sanctions because it’s against international regulations,” Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech. “We are in a situation of economic war, confronting a bullying power. I don’t think that in the history of America, someone has entered the White House who is so against law and international conventions,” he added.

In one of Tehran’s bazaars, there was anxiety over the future. “The shadow of the sanctions has already affected the economy in a disastrous way, people’s purchasing power has plunged,” said Ehsan Attar in his herbal remedy shop. “The US is just like a bully, as long as you listen to them they leave you alone, otherwise it will try to suffocate you.” Trump has made Iran a foreign policy priority since taking office, accusing it of spreading terror and seeking to destabilise the Middle East.

He detested the nuclear pact forged by his predecessor Barack Obama and five other world powers, finally deciding to abandon it in May. Trump says he wants a new deal that curbs Iran’s missile programme and interventions around the Middle East — demands that have been flatly rejected by Tehran. “Constantly they are sending us messages saying ‘Let’s sit and negotiate.’ Negotiations for what?” said Rouhani. “First, you respect the negotiations we already concluded, so that there are grounds for the next negotiations.”

Rouhani said four countries had approached him during his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly in September, offering to mediate with the US but he turned them down. “There is no need for mediation. There is no need for all these messages. Act on your commitments, and we will sit and talk,” he said. “We will do everything necessary in the interests of preserving and expanding international trade, economic and financial cooperation with Iran despite US sanctions,” said Russia’s foreign ministry. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that “US bullying is backfiring, not just because JCPOA is important, but because the world can’t allow Trump & Co to destroy global order.”

The only support for the US position has come from Iran’s regional rivals, notably Saudi Arabia and Israel, with the latter saying sanctions were “the sea-change the Middle East has been waiting for.” But Iran’s economy was already suffering major structural problems — including widespread corruption, weak investment and a banking sector laden with toxic assets — before Trump walked out of the deal.

His move helped fuel a run on Iran’s currency that has seen the rial lose more than two thirds of its value, driving up prices and forcing the government to resort to food handouts for the country’s poor. Rouhani’s plan since taking power in 2013 was to boost the economy by rebuilding ties with the world and attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment — a strategy that now looks in tatters.

Foreign companies and banks are largely unwilling to make enemies of the US Treasury, and most international firms that set up in Iran after the 2015 deal have been forced to leave, including France’s Total, Peugeot and Renault, and Germany’s Siemens. “Unfortunately, we were treated dishonourably by both the American and Iranian governments,” said Fereshteh Safarnezhad, a 43-year-old teacher, on the streets of Tehran. “The Americans never really committed to the deal and the Iranian government did not spend the cash it got from the deal on the people.”

China denounces US
China denounced new US sanctions targeting Iran’s oil and financial sectors as “long-arm jurisdiction” on Monday and vowed to continue its bilateral trade with the Islamic republic. “China opposes unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing. “We believe that China’s normal cooperation (with Iran) within international law is legal and legitimate, and this shall be respected.” Asked whether China has been granted an exemption, Hua said Beijing is conducting “normal cooperation” with Teheran within the framework of international law.

 

This news has been read 9520 times!

Related Articles

Back to top button

Advt Blocker Detected

Kindly disable the Ad blocker

Verified by MonsterInsights