No End to Illegal US Sanctions War on Iran

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Since Iranians ended a generation of US installed fascist tyranny in 1979, both militant wings of its war party waged state terror on the Islamic Republic and its people.

Its main strategy has been and continues to be weaponized sanctions.

Aiming to make Iran's economy scream and its people suffer, they're political instruments of mass destruction, a flagrant UN Charter breach — war by other means.

In 1996, the Vienna-based International Progress Organization called sanctions "an illegitimate form of collective punishment of the weakest and poorest members of society, the infants, the children, the chronically ill, and the elderly."

Imposed to get targeted nations to bend to its will, US sanctions war on North Korea for around 70 years, on Cuba for over 60 years, Iran for over 40 years, Venezuela for over 20 years, and other countries failed to accomplish their objectives by turning their populations against their ruling authorities.

Yet they continue to be used as a weapon of war by other means against sovereign independent nations unwilling to bend to US interests.

The Trump regime escalated sanctions war on Iran well beyond where his predecessors went.

Last week, militantly hostile to Iran Pompeo said the following:

The Trump regime is "clear about our expectations (and) goals (sic)."

"We (demand that) the Islamic Republic of Iran behave like a normal nation (sic)."

"We're happy to engage in conversations with them when the time is right (sic)…" 

"(C)onditions that suggest somehow we give a bunch of money to the Iranians so they can foment terror around the world is simply ludicrous (sic)." 

"It's just not how (the Trump regime) behaves (sic)."  

Fact: Intentions of both right wings of the US one-party state are crystal clear — seeking dominance over planet earth, its resources and populations by whatever it takes to achieve its objectives, war by hot and other means its favored strategies.

Fact: Even-handed US engagement with other nations was long ago abandoned. Demanding subservience to its interests replaced it.

Fact: Far and away, the US is the world's leading proliferator of state terror, falsely blaming other nations for the highest of high crimes committed against them.

Fact: Iran is the region's leading proponent of peace, stability, and mutual cooperation with other countries — notions the US rejects.

After countless unlawful rounds of unilaterally imposed sanctions on Iran, the US continues piling on more.

The latest ones target legitimate Iranian maritime operations engaged in international trade — beginning with five Iranian vessels that legally transported fuel and additives (alkylate) to Venezuela.

According to Trump's Treasury Department, over 100 Iranian vessels and transport companies are being (unlawfully) sanctioned.

The Wall Street Journal reported that "(t)he Trump (regime intends) new sanctions against dozens of (Iranian) tankers while pressuring companies associated with those vessels" — aiming to "choke off oil and fuel trade between Iran and Venezuela."

In mid-June, Press TV reported that "Iran plans monthly gasoline shipments to Venezuela," its legal right under international law, adding:

"(A)n order was issued to Iran's armed forces to identify and track several US merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman" as retaliatory targets if the Pentagon interdicts Iranian ships headed to Venezuela or anywhere else, Tehran's legal right.

According to Iranian IRGC General Ali Jafarabadi, the nation's Noor satellite launched in May is tracking movements of the country's vessels in international waters.

Earlier in June, Bloomberg News reported that Trump regime "sanctions would be imposed (on Iranian vessels and its economy) through the Treasury Department…to avoid a US military confrontation," adding:

"By showing that they were able to trade to mutual benefit," Iran and Venezuela "not only successfully circumvented US sanctions, they also scored public relations points in the process."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he'll he'll sell fuel to Venezuela if the Maduro government requests it.

Days earlier, Trump regime envoy for regime change in Iran Brian Hook said the White House "deflagged almost 150 Iranian tankers," more pressure to "continue."

The same holds for US policy toward Venezuela, the hemisphere's leading social democracy Republicans and Dems want eliminated.

Last week, the Trump regime imposed illegal sanctions on "eight entities connected with Iran's metal industry and designated an entity that transferred a material to Iran that is critical to Tehran's metal plants," the State Department reported.

Trump's Treasury Department reported that US sanctions were imposed on "four steel, aluminum, and iron companies operating within Iran's metals sector, including one subsidiary of Mobarakeh Steel Company - Iran's largest steel manufacturer."

In July 2018, Iran petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICJ) for relief from unilaterally imposed US sanctions, stressing that they violate international law and the 1955 US-Iran Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights.

Though the ICJ didn't go far enough, it largely ruled for Iran against the US, saying in part:

The bilateral 1955 treaty "prohibits the United States from imposing restrictions or prohibitions on the import of any Iranian product or on the export of any product to Iran, unless the import or export of the like product from or to all third countries is similarly restricted or prohibited."

Notably the ICJ's ruling applies to Iranian imports "of goods required for humanitarian needs, such as (i) medicines and medical devices; and (ii) foodstuffs and agricultural commodities; as well as goods and services required for the safety of civil aviation, such as (iii) spare parts, equipment and associated services…"

Though the ICJ's ruling is binding, the Trump regime ignored it.

Time and again, the US breaches international and its own constitutional law, operating by its own rules exclusively.

Iran is legally entitled to engage in international trade and other economic relations with other nations freely.

Obstructing it by the US is a breach of the UN Charter and other international law.

So is walking away from the JCPOA. Its unanimous adoption by Security Council member states made it binding international and US constitutional law.

US war on Iran by other means is all about wanting the nation transformed into a vassal state, along with gaining control over its vast hydrocarbon resources and eliminating Israel's main regional rival.

What hasn't worked since 1979 is unlikely to succeed ahead.

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif explained why, saying:

"(T)he US government is growing more isolated day by day due to its wrong and extremist policies and as a result of its own excessive demands on other countries."

Over time, its hostile agenda makes enemies and alienates allies.

It's declining geopolitically while other nations are rising. Policies under Trump advanced things much further in this direction.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

"How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War"

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"Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

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