Iran's number one attacks Trump before new sanctions

Iran's number one attacks Trump before new sanctions
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KHAMENEI.IR/AFP
/ STRINGER

Two days before the entry into force of new US sanctions, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday accused President Donald Trump of "discrediting” the United States which according to him will be the ultimate losers of this policy.

Six months after slamming the door on Iran's international nuclear deal reached in 2015, the United States has confirmed that it will reinstate Monday its toughest sanctions against oil and banks against Tehran.

Adopting a policy hostile to Iran since his accession to power, Mr. Trump, for whom this nuclear agreement is bad, had imposed last August a first set of economic sanctions against Tehran.

The European Union, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, signatories with China and Russia of the agreement supposed to prevent Iran from acquiring the atomic bomb, said they regret the American decision. All its sanctions had been lifted as part of the nuclear deal.

"This new American president (…) has discredited what was left of the prestige of the United States and democracy," the Iranian guide told his Twitter account of Mr. Trump. "The power to compel the United States, using its economic and military power is also declining," he said.

The first person in the Iranian state and the ultimate decision-maker on sensitive issues, Ayatollah Khamenei lambasted American politics.

"The dispute between the United States and Iran has lasted 40 years, and the United States has acted against us," he said, denouncing "a military, economic and media war."

"Contempt"

According to Ayatollah Khamenei, "in this dispute, the losers are the United States and the winner is the Islamic Republic".

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has ruled that US sanctions constitute a violation of the nuclear agreement and UN resolutions as well as a contempt for human values. moral and ethical ".

On the other hand, he welcomed the position of the Europeans "on which depends the survival of the agreement", the EU considering creating a mechanism to continue buying oil from Iran despite the sanctions.

The United States is the sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and diplomatic relations between the two countries have broken down since 1980.

Iranian President Hbadan Rohani, the architect of the nuclear deal, had begun a timid rapprochement with the US administration of Barack Obama with the signing of the historic text which had ended years of isolation of Iran.

But the election of Trump, who in his election campaign was one of the main detractors of Iran and the nuclear deal, has changed the situation.

"President Donald Trump Reimposes Tougher Sanctions Never Adopted” to bend Iran, announced Friday the White House. Mr. Trump explained that "the goal is to force the regime (Iran) to make a clear choice: either abandon its destructive behavior or continue on the path of economic disaster."

"No negotiations"

The new sanctions provide for sanctioning, by barring access to the US market, all countries or companies that will continue to buy Iranian oil or trade with the banks of the Islamic Republic.

"The goal is to deprive the regime of the revenues it uses to sow death and destruction around the world," US PM Mike Pompeo said, as the US seeks to halt the program. Iran's ballistics and its influence in the Middle East.

Eight countries will, however, be allowed to continue buying Iranian oil for at least another six months. The list of these countries will be known Monday.

According to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the United States wanted to cut Iranian financial institutions hit by sanctions of the international banking system Swift, an essential link in the financial system.

Despite the animosity, Trump repeats that he is ready to meet the Iranian leaders to negotiate a comprehensive agreement based on 12 US conditions: much stronger and lasting restrictions on nuclear, but also the end of proliferation missiles and activities deemed destabilizing” from Tehran to the Middle East (Syria, Yemen, Lebanon …).

"We remain ready to reach a new, more comprehensive agreement with Iran," Trump said on Friday.

But the Iranians had already said reject a dialogue with Washington. "There will be no negotiations with the United States," Ayatollah Khamenei made clear in August.

03/11/2018 14:11:36 –
Tehran (AFP) –
© 2018 AFP