• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, September 21, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

US Details New Sanctions to Hit Iran’s Banks, Oil Industry

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
11/02/18
in World
Trump and Rouhani

US President Donald Trump (left) and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The United States will add 700 individuals and entities to its Iran blacklist and pressure the global SWIFT banking network to cut off Tehran when expanded sanctions are put in place next week, U.S. officials said Friday.

But eight countries will be able to continue importing Iranian oil at lower levels in order to avoid upsetting global crude markets when the sanctions take effect on Monday, they said.

President @realDonaldTrump is reimposing all sanctions lifted under the unacceptable Iran deal. The U.S. is reimposing the toughest sanctions ever on Iran, targeting many of the corrupt regime’s critical sectors.

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 2, 2018

The U.S. aims to cripple the Iranian economy to pressure Tehran to halt its nuclear activities and what the U.S. says is broad support for “terrorism” in the region, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

The reimposition of sanctions “is aimed at depriving the regime of the revenues it uses to spread death and destruction around the world,” Pompeo said.

“Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well-documented outlaw activities and behave as a normal country.”

The sanctions come six months after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal struck between world powers and Iran.

At the time, he began reimposing sanctions that had been suspended or removed by his predecessor Barack Obama. That process will be completed starting from midnight Sunday, U.S. eastern time, when sanctions on the regime’s banks, shippers, shipbuilders and oil sector are imposed.

The impact remains in question as other countries, particularly Washington’s European allies, resist joining its effort to economically strangle the Tehran regime.

The European Union has gone so far as to protect businesses that operate in Iran. It has announced plans for a legal framework through which firms can skirt U.S. sanctions, although few major corporations have been eager to risk the wrath of penalties in the world’s largest economy.

“This is not 2012 when the world was united behind sanctions against Iran. This is the Trump administration trying to force the rest of the world to go along with a policy that most countries do not accept,” said Barbara Slavin, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

“The US has had some success in terms of frightening away major corporations. The sanctions hurt a lot. But Iran is still going to be able to sell oil,” especially to China, she said.

.@SecPompeo: Our actions today are targeted at the regime, not the people of #Iran, who have suffered grievously under this regime. It’s why we have & will maintain many humanitarian exemptions to our sanctions including food, agriculture commodities, medicine & medical devices.

— Department of State (@StateDept) November 2, 2018

Oil Trade Exemptions

Pompeo said the U.S. will grant exemptions to eight countries that have pledged to or have already cut back on purchases of petroleum from Iran, which has long depended on crude exports to power its economy.

He did not name the eight countries, but they are believed to include India, Japan, South Korea, and possibly China.

Pompeo said the countries agreed that the payments for the oil will go into offshore accounts that Iran will only be able to tap for “humanitarian trade, or bilateral trade in non-sanctioned goods and services.”

“Maximum pressure means maximum pressure,” Pompeo said.

To punish Iranian banks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the global financial network SWIFT — which enables secure bank-to-bank communications and transactions — will also be subject to U.S. sanctions if it provides services to Iranian financial institutions on the U.S. blacklist, which includes most major Iranian banks.

That could make it very hard for Iran to do business with other countries.

“SWIFT is no different than any other entity,” Mnuchin said.

I share the concerns expressed by my colleagues regarding the potential ‘softness’ of Iran sanctions.

We must stay strong against the Iranian regime. https://t.co/RvqGCtJ3jh

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 2, 2018

US Objective in Question

Justifying the action, Pompeo has issued a list of demands for Iran that go well beyond the nuclear program that was the focus of Obama’s deal.

He wants the Shiite clerical regime to withdraw from war-ravaged Syria, where it is a critical ally of President Bashar al-Assad, and to end longstanding support to regional militant movements Hezbollah and Hamas.

The U.S. also wants Iran to stop backing Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who are facing a U.S.-supported air campaign led by Saudi Arabia. But experts don’t expect Iran’s leaders to immediately throw in the towel.

“It’s basically magical thinking. The Iranians have been able to continue their support to regional proxies and allies for 40 years despite economic pressure,” said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group.

He said the Trump administration believed that a constrained, struggling Iran would see its influence erode. But the final goal, he said, was unclear.

“I think the end-game depends on who you’re asking. The president himself is interested in having a broader, better deal with the Iranians, but I believe that most of his national security team are interested in either destabilizing Iran or assuring a regime change in Tehran,” Vaez said.

There are only 3 days left before the Iran sanctions deadline, so here’s the 3rd requirement for the Iranian regime to behave like a normal state: it must end support for the Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan and the region, and cease harboring senior al-Qaida leaders. pic.twitter.com/NOiteORz6T

— U.S. Embassy Syria (@USEmbassySyria) November 2, 2018

Share4Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Mahsa Amini protests
Democracy at Risk

Over 90 Reporters Questioned or Arrested in Iran Since Protests: Media

by Staff Writer
August 8, 2023
Mahsa Amini protests
World

G7 Nations Denounce ‘Brutal’ Iran Protest Crackdown

by Staff Writer
November 4, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests
Opinion

Imagining a Free Iran

by Stephen J. Lyons
October 24, 2022
Iran protests
Featured

Iran Protesters Defiant Despite Crackdown

by Staff Writer
October 10, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests
Middle East

Iran Protests Flare for 10th Night as Tensions Grow With West

by Staff Writer
September 26, 2022
Iranian flag
Middle East

Iran Media Says Foreign Diplomats Arrested Including Briton

by Staff Writer
July 6, 2022
Next Post
Mike Pompeo

Pompeo Says Sanctions on Khashoggi Killers Weeks Away

europe, migrants, refugees

UN Records Over 3,000 Deaths from Migration in 2018

Recommended

Man holding up a colored LGBT flag

France Sets Up Embassy Fund to Defend LGBTQ Rights

September 19, 2023
US Authorities Seize Artworks Allegedly Stolen by Nazis

US Authorities Seize Artworks Allegedly Stolen by Nazis

September 19, 2023
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference

Japan PM to Replace Foreign and Defense Ministers: Reports

September 12, 2023
A man walks with his belongings through the rubble in an alleyway in the earthquake-damaged old city in Marrakesh on September 9, 2023

Morocco Quake Death Toll Passes 2,000: Ministry

September 10, 2023
Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.

The Ominous (and Irresponsible) Chatter of a Civil War 

September 4, 2023
Police at the site of one of two explosions in Gothenburg

Sweden Rocked by Four Blasts in One Night

August 31, 2023

Opinion

Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.

The Ominous (and Irresponsible) Chatter of a Civil War 

September 4, 2023
A bamboo-based design raises family homes safely above water levels to cope with raising water levels in Bangladesh.

The West Owes Climate Refugees Reparations Now

August 14, 2023
President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.

Boxing Day Comes to South Florida

July 5, 2023
‘Deaths of Despair:’ Why Are US Suicides on the Rise?

An Inspired Choice to Lead the CDC

June 13, 2023
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022.

Florida Man Channels Benito Mussolini

June 13, 2023
Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post