EU vows to protect trade with Iran Russia: US must revise sanctions policy against Iran
statement.
“If Washington, as it claims, is indeed interested in negotiations with Tehran, the policy of sanctions pressure aimed at diminishing Iran’s economic and defense potential as well as undermining the internal political situation there must be revised immediately,” it added.
By using pressure, it will be “impossible to reach concessions” with Iran, it noted.
The statement came after the US Treasury Department announced all sanctions on Iran lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would be back in force on November 5.
According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the sweeping sanctions will see 700 people blacklisted, including people who were granted relief under the JCPOA, as well as over 300 new names. Pompeo said on Friday that Washington would allow eight countries to continue importing Iranian oil but only at much lower levels after the re-imposition of sanctions.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement further said the fresh anti-iran sanctions were aimed at undermining the consistent efforts taken by signatories to the JCPOA to preserve the agreement after the US withdrawal in May.
It expressed “deep disappointment and increasing concern” over the US attempts to demolish international legal instruments of nuclear non-proliferation and arms control and warned of the “deteriorating” security situation in the world.
“The United States has now dealt another powerful blow to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, bringing it closer to collapse while hypocritically talking about the need to strengthen it,” the statement read.
It said the JCPOA had proved to be effective and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had regularly confirmed Iran’s compliance with its obligations under the nuclear agreement.
“The verification and control measures provided for in the Action Plan are applied in full. This in itself is reliable proof of the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program,” it added.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano one again reaffirmed in September that Iran was in compliance with the nuclear agreement.
“Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA,” Amano said.
Elsewhere in the statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged the international community not to allow “such a significant achievement of international diplomacy to collapse at the whim of just one nation, which openly violates the norms of international law.”
It emphasized that parties to the JCPOA were absolutely capable of overcoming any emerging issues.
“We will do everything necessary to preserve and expand international trade and economic and financial cooperation with Iran despite the US sanctions,” the statement pointed out.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak also said on Friday that his country would help Iran counter fresh US sanctions, saying Moscow would continue trading Tehran’s crude in defiance of Washington.
“We believe we should look for mechanisms that would allow us to continue developing cooperation with our partners, with Iran,” Novak told the Financial Times. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Saturday a face-off has been going on between the US and Iran for the past 40 years, in which the United States has always been defeated.
His remarks in Tehran came a day after the Trump administration decided to reinstate all US sanctions on Iran removed under the 2015 nuclear deal.
“For 40 years, the challenge between America and Iran has continued and a variety of movements have taken place from the enemy’s side – from the military and economic warfare to the media war launched by America,” he said, according to Press TV.
“The goal of the United States in all this was to regain the domination it had in the era of the tyranny, but it could not,” the Leader said, referring to the period before the Islamic Revolution when the Shah of Iran was a close US ally.
Ayatollah Khamenei addressed thousands of students on the eve of the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, which is marked every year with nationwide rallies.
“There is an important fact here, that in this 40-year-old challenge, the American side has been defeated and the side of the Islamic Republic has been victorious,” the Leader said.
“The reason for America’s defeat is that it has started the attack but has not reached its goals,” he added.
The US sanctions take effect Monday and cover Iran’s shipping, financial and energy sectors. They are the second batch the Trump administration has reimposed since he withdrew from the landmark accord in May.
Ayatollah Khamenei said, “America’s goal with sanctions is to cripple and hold back Iran’s economy, but the outcome is that the push toward self-sufficiency has expanded in the country.”
“Over the years, the Iranian nation had become accustomed to importing everything, but now it is accustomed to seeking to produce everything,” he added.
President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew from the international nuclear agreement in May, tweeted after Friday’s announcement, “Sanctions are coming.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said US power and credibility is fast fading under President Trump “whose every decision is faced with opposition not only from people but even governments around the world.”
“The new president of America has put everything up for auction and squandered the remaining credibility which America and liberal democracy had.”
US ‘much weaker’ now
Ayatollah Khamenei said on Saturday America’s power is in decline and the country is much weaker today than it was 40 years ago.
“Many acclaimed American politicians believe that America’s soft war has been worn out,” he said, adding “its hard power, namely America’s economic and military power, is also declining.”
“The US military is extremely confused and, therefore, it uses organizations such as Blackwater to advance its military objectives,” he said, referring to a private military contractor which gained notoriety for its cold-blooded killing of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US economy “is the same, with $15 trillion of debt and $800 billion of budget deficit,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.
The Leader said one of the manifestations of the American defeat is that it has not been able to affect the spirit of independence among the Iranian youths.
“Our youths all over the country have pro-independence feelings; some of them do not even have a very religious commitment, but they are sensitive to foreign domination,” he said.
These feelings, the Leader said, have gradually spread to other countries, especially Iran’s neighbors.
“Of course, the United States sees some of these things down to us and threatens us, saying ‘If the youth of such and such neighboring country attack our forces, we will hold you culpable’.
“Well, you’re dead wrong to blame us! People in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Pakistan hate you. What does this have to do with us?” Ayatollah Khamenei said.