Iran
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses nation in a live TV speech on the occasion of Eid al-Adha in Tehran on July 31 2020. Photo: handout/Khamenei.ir/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran’s Supreme Leader ruled out talks with the United States that could be used to boost President Donald Trump’s re-election prospects a day after Washington’s top diplomat conceded that crushing sanctions had failed to achieve their goal.
Referring to Trump as an “old man,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised address on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday: "This old man in charge, he seems to have used the negotiations with North Korea to some extents as propaganda. Now he wants to use it [talks with Iran] for the [US presidential] election."
Trump withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and began re-imposing sanctions later that year in a “maximum pressure” campaign to restrain Iran’s regional activities and force Tehran to negotiate a new, broader deal.
Khamenei said Washington has failed in its goal to isolate Iran. “Today, the US is abhorred and isolated throughout the world,” he said, pointing to Black Lives Matter protests and more than 150,000 deaths in the United States from the coronavirus.
“The sanctions imposed by the Americans against the Iranian nation are undoubtedly a crime. And these are crimes against a nation. Although they appear to be against a political system, they are actually against a nation,” he said.
The sanctions have crippled Iran’s economy. The value of Iran's rial currency has dropped by more than 60 percent and unemployment has dramatically increased. Oil exports have plummeted from around 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in April 2018 to less than 300,000 bpd in recent months, and US economic pressure, coupled with rampant domestic corruption, have placed heavy economic pressure on the average citizen.
“The sanctions have clearly had an impact,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a senate budget hearing on Thursday. “It has diminished their capacity to underwrite Hezbollah, Shia militias in Iraq, but clearly hasn’t achieved the ultimate objective which is to change the behavior of the Iranian regime.”
Though Washington is no closer to its goal, Pompeo said they continue with sanctions as the “best tools to starve the regime to the capacity to inflict terror around the world.”
The US will shortly introduce a resolution to the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Iraq that is due to expire in October.
“This was one of the central failings of the JCPOA was to have only a five-year ban on the Iranian capacity to both purchase weapon systems, build out air defense systems, the capacity to protect a nuclear program, should they continue down that path, but also to sell weapons around the world and become, again, as they were before, one of the world’s largest arms dealers,” said Pompeo.
“We hope that the UN Security Council will conclude that extending this arms embargo is the right thing. In the event they don’t, we’re going to use every tool that we have at our fingertips to make sure that arms embargo is not lifted on October 18 of this year. We think it decreases stability in the Middle East. We think that would threaten Israel and we’re confidant reduces American security as well,” he said.
On Thursday, Pompeo announced extended sanctions, banning sales to Iran of 22 metals “used in connection with Iran’s nuclear, military, or ballistic missile programs.”
Referring to Trump as an “old man,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised address on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday: "This old man in charge, he seems to have used the negotiations with North Korea to some extents as propaganda. Now he wants to use it [talks with Iran] for the [US presidential] election."
Trump withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and began re-imposing sanctions later that year in a “maximum pressure” campaign to restrain Iran’s regional activities and force Tehran to negotiate a new, broader deal.
Khamenei said Washington has failed in its goal to isolate Iran. “Today, the US is abhorred and isolated throughout the world,” he said, pointing to Black Lives Matter protests and more than 150,000 deaths in the United States from the coronavirus.
“The sanctions imposed by the Americans against the Iranian nation are undoubtedly a crime. And these are crimes against a nation. Although they appear to be against a political system, they are actually against a nation,” he said.
The sanctions have crippled Iran’s economy. The value of Iran's rial currency has dropped by more than 60 percent and unemployment has dramatically increased. Oil exports have plummeted from around 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in April 2018 to less than 300,000 bpd in recent months, and US economic pressure, coupled with rampant domestic corruption, have placed heavy economic pressure on the average citizen.
“The sanctions have clearly had an impact,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a senate budget hearing on Thursday. “It has diminished their capacity to underwrite Hezbollah, Shia militias in Iraq, but clearly hasn’t achieved the ultimate objective which is to change the behavior of the Iranian regime.”
Though Washington is no closer to its goal, Pompeo said they continue with sanctions as the “best tools to starve the regime to the capacity to inflict terror around the world.”
The US will shortly introduce a resolution to the UN Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Iraq that is due to expire in October.
“This was one of the central failings of the JCPOA was to have only a five-year ban on the Iranian capacity to both purchase weapon systems, build out air defense systems, the capacity to protect a nuclear program, should they continue down that path, but also to sell weapons around the world and become, again, as they were before, one of the world’s largest arms dealers,” said Pompeo.
“We hope that the UN Security Council will conclude that extending this arms embargo is the right thing. In the event they don’t, we’re going to use every tool that we have at our fingertips to make sure that arms embargo is not lifted on October 18 of this year. We think it decreases stability in the Middle East. We think that would threaten Israel and we’re confidant reduces American security as well,” he said.
On Thursday, Pompeo announced extended sanctions, banning sales to Iran of 22 metals “used in connection with Iran’s nuclear, military, or ballistic missile programs.”
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment