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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Friday announced the reimposition of all US sanctions against Iran lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, thus increasing economic pressure on the then Islamic Republic that President Donald Trump was ending the signing of what had been the signature of his predecessor foreign policy achievements.
The sanctions, which come into effect on Monday, concern Iran's maritime, financial and energy sectors. This is the second group the administration has reinstated since Trump withdrew from the historic deal signed in May. The recession puts an end to US participation in the nuclear deal, which is now at stake, with Iran no longer enjoying any relief from the sanctions imposed by the world's largest economy.
Shortly after the announcement, Trump tweeted what looks like a movie poster image of himself walking inspired from the TV series "Game of Thrones" to announce the reimposition of the sanctions. He says, "The sanctions are coming, November 5th."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the sanctions "aim to fundamentally alter the behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran". He has published a list of 12 requests that Iran must satisfy if it wants sanctions to be lifted. These include the end of support for terrorism and military engagement in Syria and a complete halt to its development of nuclear and ballistic missiles.
The 2015 agreement, one of the greatest diplomatic successes of former President Barack Obama, granted Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear program, which many thought was using to develop atomic weapons. Trump has repeatedly denounced this deal as the "worst" ever negotiated by the United States and has pledged to withdraw it during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump and other critics of the deal said he was giving too much to Iran in exchange for too little, allowing Iran to gradually resume nuclear activity that could be used for weapons development and not regulating any of the problems posed by the country.
Officials from the Obama era as well as the other parties to the agreement – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union – l & # 39, vehemently defended. The Europeans have mobilized to save the US withdrawal agreement, fearing that the new sanctions will lead Iran to withdraw and resume all its nuclear work.
The foreign and finance ministers of Britain, France, Germany and the top European diplomat criticized the reinstatement of sanctions, saying that Iran respected the agreement and was working on ways to mitigate the threat. 39, impact of the US decision.
"We deeply regret the new imposition of sanctions by the United States," they said in a joint statement. "As parties to (the agreement), we are committed to working for the preservation and maintenance of effective financial channels with Iran and the continuation of Iran's oil and gas exports."
With few exceptions, sanctions imposed by the United States will hit Iran, as well as countries that do not stop importing Iranian oil and foreign companies doing business with Iranian entities blacklisted, including its central bank, a number of private financial institutions and a state port. and transport companies, as well as hundreds of Iranian officials.
"Our ultimate goal is to force Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented underground activities and behave like a normal country," said Pompeo during a conference call with the Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin. "Maximum pressure means maximum pressure."
Pompeo said eight countries would receive temporary waivers allowing them to continue importing Iranian petroleum products for a limited period, allowing them to completely stop these imports. He added that these countries, which would include American allies such as Turkey, Italy, India, Japan and South Korea, had made efforts to eliminate their imports but had not been able to complete their imports. task by Monday.
The exemptions, which should be announced Monday, will be valid for six months, during which time the importing country can buy Iranian oil but will have to deposit the Iranian receipts into an escrow account. Iran can spend money, but only for a limited range of humanitarian items. Pompeo said two of the eight countries would reduce their imports to zero within a few weeks.
Mnuchin said 700 additional Iranian businesses and people would be added to the sanctions lists. These, he said, would include more than 300 people who had not been included in the previous sanctions.
"We are sending a very clear message with our maximum pressure campaign: that the United States intends to aggressively enforce our sanctions," he said.
Israel, which sees Iran as an existential threat and has opposed the deal from the beginning, welcomed Friday's announcement.
"Thank you, Mr. President, for reinstating the sanctions against an Iranian regime dedicated to and working for the destruction of the Jewish state," Israeli Ambbadador to the American Union Ron Dermer said in a tweet.
Some Iranian hawks in Congress and elsewhere, however, were disappointed by the sanctions because they had not called for any waivers for the import of oil, as well as the complete disconnection of Iran from the main international financial messaging network known as the name of SWIFT.
A very critical group vis-à-vis the agreement has welcomed the new sanctions but said that there should be no exception.
"We encourage the Trump administration to keep the promise of a maximum-pressure campaign – without exception – until Iran permanently and verifiablely changes its behavior," he said. United against the Iranian nuclear in a statement. "Oil and gas companies, including those from friendly countries like India, South Korea and Japan, should not be exempted from sanctions. Similarly, financial entities – including SWIFT – must break their ties with Iran's banks and financial institutions. "
Mnuchin defended the decision to allow some Iranian banks to remain linked to SWIFT, saying the company based in Belgium had been warned that it would be punishable if sanctioned institutions were allowed to. 39; use. He added that US regulators would closely monitor Iranian transactions using SWIFT to ensure that any breach of US sanctions is punished.
Pompeo, meanwhile, defended petroleum derogations, saying that US efforts to reduce Iran's oil revenues had already paid off. He noted that since May, when the United States began to pressure countries to stop buying Iranian oil, Iranian exports had dropped more than a million barrels a day. .
Pompeo and Mnuchin both said the sanctions would have exceptions for humanitarian purchases, although supporters of the Iran deal said the Iranian population would suffer because companies would be reluctant to business in the country, fearing to be excluded from the US financial system.
They underline the fact that the Iranian economy is already under the shock of previous sanctions, the currency having lost half of its value since April and the prices of fruits, poultry, eggs and milk having exploded.
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