| Back to... |
Share Our Stories! - Click Here |
 |
New Illegal US Sanctions on Iran |
| By
Stephen Lendman |
| Security Council action alone may impose sanctions on countries, not
one nation on others - the way America and its go-along EU allies operate. Unilaterally imposed US sanctions on Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Iran and other nations are flagrantly illegal. The Trump administration, in cahoots with Israel, is morally and viscerally hostile toward the Islamic Republic, escalating what’s been US confrontational policy for nearly four decades - the threat of war today perhaps greater than ever. On Tuesday, the Treasury Department illegally and with malice unjustifiably imposed sanctions on “16 (Iranian) entities and individuals…” A Treasury statement lied, claiming they “support…illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity.” A Treasury Secretary Mnuchin statement turned truth on its head, citing nonexistent Iranian “malign activity, including…state support of terrorism, ballistic missile program, and human rights abuses.” America, the world’s leading aggressor, human rights abuser, and threat to world peace targeted a nation that hasn’t attacked another one in centuries. It threatens none now. Its nuclear program is in full compliance with JCPOA provisions and NPT principles. It has no military component. Its ballistic missile program is entirely legitimate. Calling Tehran a state sponsor of terrorism is a bald-faced lie. So are phony claims of Iranian human rights abuses. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted the imposition of new sanctions, saying they violate “the spirit of the (nuclear) deal.” “We will look at it and see whether it violates the letter of the deal, and we will act accordingly. The international community has read this very loud and clear and continue to deal with Iran without much attention to this theater.” America is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, allied with Israel and other rogue states engaged in and supporting this scourge. “These are the countries that are producing terrorists,” Zarif stressed. America unjustifiably targets Iran solely for its sovereign independence and opposition to US imperial lawlessness, its aggressive wars on one nation after another, raping and destroying them. Zarif called US actions against Iranians (and humanity) “repugnant.” Calling new Trump administration sanctions “cheap and useless,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the Islamic Republic will “impose new sanctions against a number of other American persons and entities that have taken hostile steps against the Iranian people and other Muslim nations in the region.” On Tuesday, Iranian parliamentarians passed a measure, designating US military forces and intelligence services as supporters of terrorist groups in the Middle East. The legislation states “(i)n view of the overt support provided to terrorist groups by the US government and the country’s military and intelligence forces and repeated confessions by American officials to having created terrorist groups and offered them all-out support, from the standpoint of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the entirety of the United States’ military and intelligence forces are considered as supporters of terrorist groups in the region.” On Tuesday, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump’s “opinions and feelings on (the Iran nuclear) deal…have not changed.” “He still very much thinks it is a really bad deal and that the Iranians have not been fully complying” - even though his administration just confirmed its compliance. So do the other P5+1 countries, the UN and IAEA. US hostility toward Iran is longstanding, multiple rounds of sanctions illegally imposed since its 1979 revolution, ending a generation of US-installed despotic rule, replacing its democratic governance. Throughout the Islamic Republic’s existence, Washington sought regime change. War plans were drawn long ago, ready to be implemented if ordered by Trump. Does he intend more aggression than already? Iran and North Korea are prime targets. US imperial madness threatens everyone everywhere. World peace hangs by a thread. VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. |