Envoy Urges Europeans to Defy New U.S. Sanctions

Date: 10 October 2020 - 21:51

News ID: ۸۳۶۹۳

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna has called on European countries to take action to defy new sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Iranian banks.
The United States on Thursday slapped fresh sanctions on Iran’s financial sector, targeting 18 banks in an effort to further choke off Iranian revenues as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran weeks ahead of the U.S. election.
The move freezes any U.S. assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them, while extending secondary sanctions to those who do business with them. This means foreign banks risk losing access to the U.S. market and financial system.
In a post on his Instagram page, Kazem Gharibabadi said Europe shoulders a heavy responsibility with regards to the new U.S. sanctions on a number of Iranian banks.
"Europe should not simply settle for expressing regret over such destructive moves by the U.S.,” he said.
He said if Europe’s claim of advocating human rights is true -a claim about which there are serious doubts– then it should take action.
"Europe has a heavy responsibility, both in terms of countering the United States’ anti-human rights moves… and with regards to making good on its commitments under the JCPOA,” he added.
The Treasury Department said in a statement the prohibitions did not apply to transactions to sell agricultural commodities, food, medicine or medical devices to Iran, saying it understood the need for humanitarian goods.
But Gharibabadi said while the U.S. claims it has not slapped sanctions on the delivery of food and drug imports to Iran, it is blocking all financial channels available to pay for those imports.
"By now, everyone must have become aware of this dirty US game,” Gharibabadi said.
The U.S., he said, has a dark record when it comes to human rights as it has jeopardized the lives of ordinary people through economic terrorism.
"U.S. officials have acknowledged that they will press ahead with their ‘maximum pressure’ policy vis-a-vis Iran to bring the country to the negotiating table with features of their own choice. The U.S. must have realized by now that this strategy is a non-starter in Iran,” he said.
Gharibabadi said Iran will do whatever it can to counter the coercive U.S. measures.
The "unilateral and illegal U.S. sanctions, of any kind and at any level, are crimes against humanity,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said the United States is targeting Iran’s ability to pay for basic necessities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"U.S. regime wants to blow up our remaining channels to pay for food & medicine,” Zarif said on Twitter. "Conspiring to starve a population is a crime against humanity.”
Iranian Central Bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati dismissed the sanctions as political propaganda and played down their practical impact.
"Rather than having any economic effect, the American move is for U.S. domestic propaganda and political purposes, and shows the falsity of the human rights and humanitarian claims of U.S. leaders,” Hemmati said in a statement.
Analysts said the secondary sanctions may further deter European and other foreign banks from working with Iran, even for permitted humanitarian transactions.
"It’s like a punch in the face to the Europeans, who have gone out of their way to indicate to the Americans that they view it as being extremely threatening to humanitarian assistance or humanitarian trade going to Iran,” said Elizabeth Rosenberg of the Center for a New American Security think tank.
"They also want ... to make it very difficult for any future president to be able to unwind these measures and engage in nuclear diplomacy,” Rosenberg added, alluding to the possibility that Democratic candidate Joe Biden could defeat Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 U.S. election.