A specialized meeting of the Saba Cultural-Media Centre has been held to review
the new US sanctions on Iran. The meeting was specifically aimed at discussing
ways of tackling the new sanctions imposed against the Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps (IRGC). The highlights of the discussions follow.
Washington’s new bans against the Islamic Republic of Iran have a well-connected
chain aimed at undermining the constituents of power in Iran.
University professor Abu-Mohammad Asgarkhani said at the meeting one of features
of the sanctions is that the US is legalizing the permanence of the bans.
"[Washington] suggests these are not only preliminary sanctions, but are bans on
the part of other countries as well. In other words, all Europeans are obliged
to cooperate in implementing the law. It means the sanctions are not unilateral.
It means the JCPOA has no role here, and the law mobilizes all these countries
against us. So, the sanctions are a regime,” said Asgarkhani.
"We asked what objectives and rules the sanctions regime has. They themselves
said principles are in line with objectives. … The objective is completely
clear.”
"Several concepts can be taken into consideration when it comes to sanctions,”
he added.
1. They have numerous and network-like regimes.
2. They follow a single objective.
3. They have common concepts.
4. They are continuous.
5. They oblige others to implement them.
6. They are extended from the nuclear domain to other areas, including
conventional weapons. This is our initial understanding of the sanctions.
Sanctions: A Long-Term Strategy
Also present at the meeting was researcher Seyed Hamed Mousavi, who
expressed his viewpoints on the issue.
"They had drawn up a plan under which they were set to target Iranian troops in
Syria, that is, start physical combat. But because they were not capable of
doing it, another group said they needed a long-term plan for Iran and shouldn’t
act emotionally. Overall, one can consider the sanctions as a long-term strategy
which would ratchet up the pressure gradually,” said Mousavi.
New Sanctions and JCPOA
Siamak Baqeri also said at the meeting that the so-called HR 3364 law is a
unique law. At the same time, it is rules-based and, in fact, is intertwined
with a series of other laws. The law does not suggest that it is an accumulation
of previous laws. Despite all laws which exist, this law focuses on a certain
objective. There are points which have made this law much more secretive than
previous ones.
So, in the first place, it will not be right to regard the law as a result of
efforts by opponents of the JCPOA in the US. If we look at the trend of the
passage of the law, we will see that all American think tanks contributed to it.
These show that the end product was not the outcome of attempts by opponents of
the JCPOA; rather, it was the result of consensus within the United States.
One of the important features of the law is that it is complementary. The law is
a complement to the JCPOA’s unsaid points. This law is a complementary one which
focuses on Iran’s defense power. Even if a human rights issue is enshrined in
it, it can target our defense power as well. The law says a regional strategy
should be devised regarding Iran’s asymmetrical threats. It also says bans
should be slapped on ballistic missiles, Iran’s conventional weapons and the
IRGC. Therefore, it focuses on undermining the constituents of Iran’s power.