Iran promises to "break" US sanctions and resist "psychological warfare" as Trump reinvents sanctions

ISTANBUL – Iran's military forces staged war exercises and its president promised Monday to "break" US sanctions on oil sales reimposed at midnight, as Tehran resisted the Trump administration's pressure campaign to isolate the country. country economically.

"We will proudly break the sanctions," Rouhani said at a meeting of government officials in the Iranian capital.

Rouhani's pledge to continue to export oil was made when the Trump administration rescinded the imposition of sanctions on more than 700 people and companies that benefited from a lifting of sanctions when a historic agreement reached in 2015 with nuclear power has come into force.

Unilateral sanctions reintroduce some of the most crippling restrictions imposed on the Iranian oil, maritime and banking sectors and seek to penalize even non-US entities doing business with Iran.

Iran's leaders have called the sanctions "illegal" and said they would only hurt citizens. The Iranian economy has experienced stagnant growth and high unemployment, even after the lifting of sanctions following the nuclear deal negotiated with the world powers. In recent months, its currency has collapsed, leading to higher prices and more savings.

"We must make it clear to the Americans that they can not speak to the great Iranian nation with the language of pressure and sanctions," Rouhani said Monday in a televised address.

He spoke at a meeting of economists who, he said, were at "the vanguard of the resistance" against the United States.

"What Americans are doing today is putting pressure on the people," he said, according to a transcript of remarks posted on the president's website.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior administration officials described the sanctions as "the most severe sanctions ever imposed" on Iran. Although the number of sanctioned individuals and entities is greater than ever before, many Middle Eastern experts believe that they will be less effective than the sanctions imposed by the United States prior to the agreement. Indeed, virtually all countries in the world were behind previous sanctions, while almost all nations oppose their reimposition.

The most important of the new measures is the ban on oil sales, which provides 80% of its revenue to Tehran.

Blacklisted companies include 50 Iranian banks, an Iranian airline and dozens of its aircraft, as well as officials and vessels in the Iranian transport and energy sectors.

President Trump retired from the 2015 nuclear deal in May and gave 180 days to countries and businesses to reduce their oil purchases to zero. The administration has granted exemptions to eight countries that have significantly reduced their purchases of Iranian oil without having completely stopped them.

Pompeo on Monday identified countries with temporary waivers of sanctions to continue buying Iranian oil, although the United States hopes that they will continue to reduce their oil imports in the weeks and months ahead. The two countries include the two largest oil customers of China, China and India. Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Taiwan have also obtained derogations.

In addition, Pompeo stated that the United States has granted waivers for the continuation of three ongoing non-proliferation projects that monitor the Iranian nuclear program. The only one he has identified is the Bushehr nuclear power plant, where Russia is building a second unit in an existing energy production facility.

Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Twitter that "the United States Intimidation is a step back. He added: "The United States – and not Iran – are isolated. "

[Pompeo said he expects sanctions will change Iranian government’s behavior]

The United States withdrew from the nuclear deal in May, saying its scope was too limited. The Trump administration complains that the deal, negotiated between Iran and six world powers, did not go far enough in limiting Iran's nuclear program and did not cover other activities it deemed unacceptable.

As part of the deal, Iran has limited its atomic energy program in exchange for broad cuts in nuclear-related sanctions. Iran has complied with the terms of the nuclear deal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog to monitor the country's nuclear activity. But the Trump administration is asking Iran to change its "perverse behavior" in the region, including through the development of ballistic missiles and support to regional proxies.

Iran is a major donor of militant groups in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Iranian experts warn however that it is unlikely that sanctions will alter the influence or activities of Iran in the region. A report released Friday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group has tracked Iran's economic performance and regional policy over a four-decade period and concluded that it there was "no or little correlation between the two".

"Tehran has continued to pursue policies that it considers essential for its national security, regardless of its degree of economic prosperity in its country," the report says.

"The aggressive policy of the Trump administration is more likely to stimulate Iranian regional activism than to reduce it," he said.

Also Monday, the army and the powerful body of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards held war exercises in the north and west of the country, the official news agency said Islam Republic News Agency . Exercises include air defense systems and anti-aircraft batteries.

In Tehran, residents were worried Monday and expressed concern for the future.

One man, a 45-year-old manual worker, said in a telephone interview that low wages and high inflation meant his family "could not even go to our own villages" to visit relatives.

He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government.

"I now work in two shifts, including weekends, and we buy everything we can afford without worrying about quality," he said.

Another resident, a 30-year-old woman working in a private distribution company, said over the phone that she was paying exorbitant amounts for prescription drugs for her parents on the black market.

"Many products are not found [on the market] more, she says.

The woman, a marketing manager, also refused to give her name to speak freely about the situation in Iran.

Neither Iran nor the United States "want the best for the Iranian people," she said. "So, I have no hope."

"Sanctions are only bad for people," she said. "We have seen this in the past."

Morello reported from Washington.

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