Bolton: We’ll squeeze Iran until the pips squeak
The US intends to step up enforcement of sanctions on Iran, pressuring the nation “until the pips squeak”, National Security Adviser John Bolton said from Singapore yesterday.
His comments came a week after the US introduced a new round of sanctions on Iran, in an attempt to pressure the Islamic republic into curbing its nuclear and missile programmes and support for proxy forces in the Middle East.
They also came a day after the national security adviser visited the UAE, where he held talks with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, on Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan and other issues.
The latest US sanctions on Iran, touted as the toughest yet, apply to businesses, banks and oil exporters but they include eight temporary waivers,
including for China, India, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Turkey, who are among the biggest buyers of Iranian oil.
“We think the government is under real pressure and it’s our intention to squeeze them very hard,” Mr Bolton said in Singapore, where the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations and external partners, including the US and China, are meeting.
“As the British say, squeeze them until the pips squeak.”
Mr Bolton also said the US was going “to significantly increase the enforcement of sanctions”, saying he believed the Islamic republic had “already started to try to find ways to evade the sanctions”.
Even before the sanctions went into effect this month, the Trump administration’s announcement in May that it would pull out of the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers triggered a collapse in the value of Iran’s currency.
The rial has hit 149,000 to the US dollar on the black market, down from about 43,000 at the start of the year.
Iran’s regional rivals, notably Saudi Arabia and Israel, welcomed the reimposition of sanctions. But the measures have been opposed by other parties to the deal aimed at ending Iran’s nuclear drive – Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia – who have vowed to keep the accord alive.
In its latest assessment, international monitors said Iran continued abiding by nuclear limits in the accord.
European signatories to the deal are trying to put in place mechanisms to allow trade and investment with Iran to continue, as Iranian officials say their country will not stay bound by an agreement that does not deliver benefits.
Mr Bolton suggested the Europeans would fail and have to rethink their approach.
“I like to compare the attitudes that are changing in Europe to a book written years ago in the US called something like The Six Stages of Grief,” Mr Bolton said. “It starts off with denial. Then it ends up at acceptance.”
The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the sanctions will cause Iran’s economy to contract 1.5 per cent this year and 3.6 per cent next year.