New Sanctions Are Not New Sanctions
Hours after world leaders hailed diplomacy over war, celebrating the implementation of the JCPOA, a nuclear accord reached between Iran and the P5+1, the United States imposed fresh sanctions on 11 Iranian entities over a recent ballistic missile test. The new sanctions prevent companies and individuals linked to the missile program from using the US banking system. The move was reportedly delayed as Iranian Foreign Minister had warned the US officials it could derail secret talks between the two countries for an exchange of prisoners. Critics of the deal in Iran believe Obama’s US Treasury could not wait more after the US detainees left Iran.
“Iran will take this as evidence that the US can never be trusted again. And good luck exploiting that economic opening,” tweeted a Reuters correspondent in reaction to the fresh sanctions. His view is shared wholeheartedly among Iranian hardliners who openly criticize the nuclear deal. Mahdi Mohammadi argues that the Rohani administration’s attempts to build up social capital for “western-inclined political parties” on the Implementation Day have failed, as it did not receive the warm public welcome the administration expected. That is probably because the final step is not taken, he explains in an article published in Vatane Emrooz. “Public opinion in Iran will give the administration a short time in order to move toward finding real solutions for the economic problems in people’s everyday lives relying on what it achieves in the JCPOA,” he wrote.
Former Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade, Babak Afghahi, urges Rouhani to change his economy squad. In an interview with Nasim Online published today, he said the administration shows fragmentation, lack of planning and the non-existence of minimal conditions for the management of the country’s economic status.
Conservative newspaper Kayhan also accuses the Rouhani administration of negligence regarding explicitly-declared redlines ratified in the Iranian parliament (Majlis) on the implementation of the JCPOA. “The Administration is obliged to carefully monitor any non-compliance regarding the effective nullification of the sanctions, their resumption, or adoption of new ones for any other reasons, take reciprocal measures to protect the Iranian nation’s rights and stop voluntary cooperation. It is also obliged to quickly develop Iran’s peaceful nuclear program so to increase the country’s enrichment capacity up to 19 thousand centrifuges within two years,” the third paragraph of the motion approved by the parliament says.
Official response
However, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a different stance. MFA spokesman Jaberi Ansari calls the US move propaganda but says adding names to the previous list of sanctions does not mean new sanctions are imposed. He read out a statement issued by the ministry during his weekly press briefing here on Monday. “We will respond to such propaganda stunts and measures meant to harm by more robustly pursuing our lawful missile program and promoting our defense capabilities and national security,” the statement said. “The US sanctions against Iran's ballistic missile program ... have no legal or moral legitimacy,” Reuters cited Ansari as saying in the televised news conference. “America sells tens of billions of dollars of weaponry each year to countries in the region,” Ansari said. These weapons are used in war crimes against Palestinian, Lebanese, and most recently Yemeni citizens, Ansari added.
“Unfortunately, the US administration showed its chronic addiction to unilateralism and inefficient sanctions by adding some companies to its previous lists, only to cover its own desperation having to bow to the Iranian nation’s will and to accept Iran’s peaceful nuclear program on the one hand and to annul oppressive sanctions on the other,” said the statement.