Tossing former President Barack Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal out May 8, Nov. 5 is the day the U.S. imposes new Iranian sanctions over objections of U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany, original signatories when Obama signed the deal July 14, 2015. Negotiated over two years by former Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minster Mohammed Javad Zarif, the deal handed Iran billions in cash and sanctions relief in exchange for Iran suspending its nuclear enrichment program. Once the deal was inked, Iran set out on an aggressive foreign policy, starting a proxy war with Saudi Arabia, supplying arms-and-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Nuke Deal emboldened Iran’s military aggression, and, at the same time, provided no verification for Iran’s nuclear activity.
Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPA], Iran would not permit the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors into Iran’s sensitive military sites, blocking all verification. Iran breached the JCPA by preventing the IAEA from inspecting Iran’s military sites suspected of enriching uranium. Trump’s May 8 decision to cancel the JCPA was directly related to the failure of Iran to verify suspension of its nuclear enrichment program. With sanctions set for Monday, Nov. 5, Iran is prohibited from selling petroleum to a wide swath of countries, unless otherwise exempted. Trump wants Iran to go back to the bargaining table, something Iran’s Ayatollah Al Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani and Zarif refused to do. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the sanctions were “aimed at fundamentally altering the behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran,”
Iran’s showed over-and-over again it cannot be trusted to carry out the JCPA, despite insisting it never attempted to build an A-bomb. Yet every time Trump said he would re-impose strict sanctions, Iran said it would ramp up uranium enrichment activities, meaning working on an A-bomb. Russia, China and EU officials insist Iran has been in compliance with the JCPA. Yet none of those countries can say whether or not Iran continues to enrich uranium in secret military sites. “We deeply regret the further re-imposition pf sanctions by the United States,” said the EU in a joint statement. “As parties to the [deal] we have committed to work on the preservation and maintenance of effective financial channels with Iran, and the continuation of Iran’s export of oil and gas.” None the P5+1 countries had any role in negotiating the JCPA or any of the cash or concessions transacted.
Russia, China and EU countries are only concerned about their voracious energy needs, wanting no part of U.S. sanctions on Iran, but, more importantly, any EU countries doing business with the Iranian regime. Kerry and Zarif, with Obama’s and Khamenei’s blessing, worked out the deal that handed Iran so much cash it was hard to imagine what, if anything, the U.S. got from the July 14, 2015 deal. Obama touted the deal as a real breakthrough when it was nothing more than giving Iran cover to secretly work on an A-bomb. Iran’s denials about its work on a bomb were belied by its threat to ramp up nuclear enrichment should any P5+1 country breach the Nuke Deal to impose new sanctions. With news sanctions starting Nov. 5, the U.S. imposes strict economic penalties on any bank, shipping company, energy firm, state-run ports doing, etc., doing business with the Iranian regime.
Instead of working with the U.S. to renegotiate the JCPA, Iran insisted that there would be no new deals with Washington. Since Trump cancelled Obama’s Nuke Deal May 8, Iran’s fragile, petroleum-based economy headed south. Iran’s Rial currency has watched its value plummet to over 42,000 to one U.S. dollar. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has warned the Iranian people about hard times ahead, rather than sit down with the U.S. to find common ground. “Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented outlaw activities and behavior as a normal country,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on a conference call with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. “Maximum pressure means maximum pressure,” something opposed by U.S. allies worried about a loss of Iranian oil. U.S. officials want Iran to stop its proxy war with Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
When Pompeo talks of Iran as an outlaw regime, he’s referring to supplying arms-and-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Gaza’s Hamas terrorists, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, all threatening Israel. Announcing Iran’s new sanctions, Mnuchin said that 700 new companies doing business with Iran would be put on notice to cease-and-desist. “We are sending a very clear message with our maximum pressure campaign that the U.S. intends to aggressively enforce our sanctions,” said Mnuchin. “The cruel sanctions being imposed on Iran will affect the Strait of Hormuz functions,” said Iranian Revolutionary Guard Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi July 28. “There is no place for foreign forces, like the U.S. Navy,.in the Persian Gulf,” said IRGC Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangzin Aug 28. Iran knows any attempt to block shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf would be considered an act of war by the United States.
