More US Sanctions on Iran Coming
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Weaponized US sanctions are all about Washington waging war by other means – against Iran and numerous other countries.
When unilaterally imposed by nations against others, they’re flagrantly illegal, Security Council members alone authorized to take this action, not individual regimes for any reasons, no exceptions permitted.
On Monday, John Bolton warned about more (illegal) US sanctions on Iran are coming, saying:
“The aim is to drive Iranian oil exports to zero. We’re working with other countries to get alternative supplies for countries that are buying, and I think that’s critical over an extended period of time,” adding:
“We’re going to have sanctions that even go beyond this. We’re not simply going to be content with the level of sanctions that existed under Obama in 2015 — more are coming.”
“This is going to cut into Iran’s ability to continue their nuclear program, to finance terrorism and to engage in military activity around the Middle East and I think we’re already seeing that.”
Nuclear madness, militarism and naked aggression, along with “financ(ing) terrorism” are longstanding US specialties, not Iranian ones.
The Trump regime’s goal to harm the Islamic Republic politically, economically and financially is unattainable. The harder it tries by bribes, pressure, and bullying tactics, the less likely it’s able to succeed.
Eight major buyers of Iranian oil were given six month waivers to continue their imports, Iraq also exempted – to import Iranian natural gas and electricity, other countries likely wanting continuation of normal trade relations with Iran as well, mainly EU ones.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said Baghdad’s position on relations with Iran is similar to the EU, Russia and China.
“Iraq will not be part of the (US) sanctions regime, as it will not be part of aggression against any country,” he said. It remains to be seen if its ruling authorities agree to the above or end up bowing to Washington’s will.
Central Bank of Iran governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said the CBI “developed various plans to cope with the worst-case scenarios after the second round of the US sanctions is carried out,” adding:
“We have been in talks with our trade partners and all the necessary actions have been taken for Iran’s interactions to continue.”
“We were expecting these sanctions, so we had plans in place for them and beyond… considering the possibility of banks being disconnected from SWIFT we have considered alternatives to replace it.”
“Meanwhile, we have managed to build up our foreign exchange reserves over the past months.” Trump regime sanctions on Iran will fail to halt its energy exports, he stressed.
On Wednesday, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said “(w)hat Americans sought to do was to exert so much pressure on Iran that our internal affairs would go haywire, and although they did exert pressure, they did not succeed in achieving their goal.”
He believes cooperative Iranian relations with many nations will help it overcome US political, economic and financial war on the country – US tactics flagrantly illegal.
Germany’s Commerzbank said Iranian “(e)xports (will likely) increase…in the coming months because Japan and South Korea have hardly been buying any Iranian oil of late…”
That’ll change because of waivers granted both countries and six others – dependent on Iranian oil, eager to buy it.
Trump saying he “could get the Iran oil down to zero immediately” if he wants to was meaningless bluster.
His regime’s waivers expire next May. Most countries dependent on Iranian oil want to keep buying it – through international market transactions, the Iranian Oil Bourse, and other ways, including the black market.
In a three-minute Tuesday video message, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed Trump regime sanctions, calling them “illegal and draconian,” adding:
“he US administration appears to believe that imposing illegal, draconian sanctions on Iran will bring about such pain to our nation that it will force us to submit to its will no matter how absurd, unlawful or fundamentally flawed its demands are.”
“Today, we and our partners across the globe will ensure that our people are least affected by this indiscriminate assault in the economic warfare that directly targets the Iranian people.”
The late Chalmers Johnson once said US arrogance, hubris, and overreach may prove its downfall.
Perhaps “the sort of extinction that befell…the Soviet Union (is) now unavoidable” for America, he stressed.
It’s plagued by the same dynamic that doomed other empires in world history unwilling to change.
The harder it pushes for compliance with its unacceptable demands, the more it alienates other countries – America its own worst enemy.
Permanent wars of aggression alone may be its undoing. Humanity going down with it when it falls is the major global risk.
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