Iran holds military drills as US sanctions kick back in
‘WAR SITUATION’ President Rohuani says ‘we are confronting a bullying enemy’ TEHRAN:
Iran greeted the re-imposition of US sanctions on Monday with air defence drills and an acknowledgement from President Hassan Rouhani the nation faces a “war situation,” raising Mideast tensions as America’s maximalist approach to the Islamic Republic takes hold.
The sanctions end all the economic benefits America granted Tehran for its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, though Iran for now continues to abide by the accord that saw it limit its enrichment of uranium. While for now not threatening to resume higher enrichment, Iranian officials in recent months have made a point to threaten that could resume at any time faster than before.
The new American sanctions particularly hurt Iran’s vital oil industry, a crucial source of hard currency for its anaemic economy. Its national currency has plummeted over the last year, sending prices for everything from mobile phones to medicine skyrocketing. “Today, Iran is able to sell its oil and it will sell,” Rouhani vowed on Monday as the sanctions kicked in.
Iranian state television aired footage of air defence systems and anti-aircraft batteries in two-day military maneuvers underway across a vast stretch of the country’s north. It included surfaceto-air missiles shooting down a drone. The drill was to continue through Tuesday. Iranian army Gen. Habibillah Sayyari said both the national army and the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard were taking part in the exercise.
Rouhani, meanwhile, pledged to government officials in comments aired on state TV that Iran would overcome the sanctions. “We are in the war situation, “Rouhani said. “We are in the economic war situation. We are con- fronting a bullying enemy. We have to stand to win.”
He further stepped up the rhetoric, comparing Iran’s situation in the 1980s war against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with the current one and President Donald Trump’s move to reinstate US sanctions. “Yesterday, Saddam was in front us, today Trump is front of us. There is no difference. We must resist and win,” he said.
Iran is already in the grip of an economic crisis. Its national currency, the rial, now trades at 1,45,000 to one US dollar, down from when it traded 40,500 to $1 a year ago. The economic chaos sparked mass anti-government protests at the end of last year which resulted in nearly 5,000 reported arrests and at least 25 people being killed. Sporadic demonstrations still continue.
Rouhani separately said leaders from “four powers” met with Iran on the sidelines of the September meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to try to save the deal, including a possible meeting with Trump. Nov 1979 US imposes first sanctions after Iranian students stormed the US embassy
March 1995 President Bill Clinton bans US firms from investing in Iranian oil and gas and trading with Iran
April 1996 US orders sanctions on foreign firms investing more than $20m a year in Iran’s energy sector
October 2007 The US announces new sanctions against Iran, the toughest since it first imposed sanctions almost 30 years ago, for “supporting terrorists”
June 2010 US Congress imposes new sanctions targeting Iran’s energy and banking sectors
May 2011 US blacklists the 21st Iranian state bank, the Bank of Industry and Mines, for transactions with banned institutions November 2011 The US, UK and Canada announce bilateral sanctions on Iran. January 2012 US imposes sanctions on Iran’s central bank, the main clearing-house for its oil export profits
June 2012 US bans the world’s banks from completing oil transactions with Iran
July 2015 After years of negotiations, US and other world powers reach deal with Iran on limiting Iranian nuclear activity in return for lifting of sanctions January 2016 International sanctions on Iran lifted after UN says satisfied with progress on fulfilling nuclear agreement May-June 2018 US President Trump announces the US withdrawal from the 2015 international deal on Iran’s nuclear programme
November 5, 2018 US reimposes sanctions on Iran, bringing to an end all the economic benefits it had granted Tehran for its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.