Pompeo and Mnuchin on Iran Sanctions
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Their joint Monday press conference ignored the Trump regime’s extrajudicial action. They arrogantly don’t give a hoot about world community opposition.
Eight countries so far were granted temporary waivers to buy Iranian oil, likely to become permanent next year directly or indirectly – China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey.
Maybe other nations will demand waivers to keep buying Iranian oil, their legal right, the Trump regime’s action flagrantly unlawful.
Trump, Pompeo, and other regime officials called the reimposed sanctions the “toughest” ever imposed on Iran.
They target Iranian energy and related products, its central bank and other financial transactions, its shipping industry and Iran Air, the country’s largest airline.
Over 50 Iranian banks, their subsidiaries abroad, Tehran’s Atomic Energy Organization and 23 of its subsidiaries, along with hundreds of individuals and entities were illegally sanctioned.
Pompeo threatened the world community, warning of “swift punishment” on any nations, companies or individuals doing business with Iran, saying:
“I promise you that doing business with Iran in defiance of our sanctions will ultimately be a much more painful business decision than pulling out of Iran.”
Last August, Pompeo announced the creation of a so-called “Iran Action Group” – for regime change he failed to explain, by coup d’etat or naked aggression, saying:
It’ll “be responsible for directing, reviewing, and coordinating all aspects of the State Department’s Iran-related activity, and it will report directly to me.”
No “Iranian threat” exists – other than its sovereign independence, along with its opposition to Washington’s imperial agenda and Israeli apartheid rule.
Trump regime State Department policy planning director Brian Hook heads the Iran Action Group, serving as US special representative for the Islamic Republic, in charge of its regime change initiative.
US dirty hands have been behind efforts to destabilize Iran and topple its government since its 1979 revolution.
Everything tried failed, things ahead likely turning out no more successfully unless Trump regime hardliners declare full-scale war on the country – a lunatic scheme if tried, risking global war.
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) financial transactions system surrendered to Trump regime sanctions, saying:
It’ll suspend access to sanctioned Iranian banks, turning truth on its head, claiming it’s in the interest of “stability and integrity of the wider global financial system.”
Mnuchin warned the system would be sanctioned if it fails to go along with (flagrantly unlawful) US sanctions.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed Iranian oil and other sales will continue, saying the Islamic Republic will break Trump regime sanctions “with honor,” adding:
“With the help of the people, and the unity that exists in our society, we have to make the Americans understand that they must not use the language of force, pressure, and threats to speak to the great Iranian nation. They must be punished once and for all.”
The Trump regime “saw (it) couldn’t replace (Iranian oil on the market), and even assuming they did not concede defeat and did not grant waivers to countries, we would still be able to sell our oil (because) we have adequate capabilities to do that.”
A Treasury Department press release explained what it called “unprecedented US economic pressure.”
Maybe Venezuela, Russia, China, and other countries will be targeted as harshly if they refuse to accept US dominion over their countries.
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
