Reuters: US to Impose New Sanctions Against Iran
According to an exclusive Reuters report citing a US government official, the United States will announce new sanctions against Iran on Monday, September 21. These sanctions target dozens of individuals connected to the Islamic Republic’s military and nuclear programs.
Reuters reported, citing a senior US government official, that the United States intends to announce fresh sanctions on Monday, the 31st of Shahrivar (September 21) against a number of officials and organizations related to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and military programs.
In its exclusive report, Reuters refrained from disclosing the name of this senior American official.
This senior official told Reuters that the list of sanctioned individuals that the United States intends to announce includes “a number of scientists as well as military and weapons organizations.”
Without providing specific details, evidence, or documentation, he added, “Iran could, given the expansion of its provocative nuclear activities by the end of the current year (2020), obtain the nuclear materials needed to produce an atomic bomb.”
This American official noted that this assessment is based on information obtained by the United States, including through the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has stated that the Islamic Republic has gradually increased uranium enrichment levels following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018.
According to the Agency’s report, Iran currently enriches uranium to 4.5 percent, which violates the 2015 nuclear agreement. The Agency also recently announced that Iran’s low-concentration uranium reserves have increased tenfold above the permitted limit.
According to Reuters, US President Donald Trump, in line with his efforts to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic, also intends to issue an executive order to punish conventional weapons dealers with Iran.
The UN Security Council’s arms embargo against the Islamic Republic expires on October 18 of this year, and the body has rejected the US government’s request for its renewal.
Other signatories to the nuclear agreement, including Germany, Britain, and France, have also expressed their opposition to this US request, though they have simultaneously expressed concern about the Islamic Republic’s role and activities in the region and stressed that they should negotiate with Iran in this regard.
Reuters also reported in its article that the new US sanctions are being implemented in line with “activating the snapback mechanism” by the United States. Washington intends to use this mechanism to restore the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally announced the restoration of all UN sanctions against Iran by issuing a statement yesterday.
Following this action, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in a letter to Security Council members regarding the announcement of the “snapback mechanism” by the United States, emphasized that there is “uncertainty” in this regard and that he will currently take no action due to ambiguity in the situation.
An Iranian official at the United Nations, in an email to Reuters, while dismissing the announcement of the restoration of all US sanctions against the Islamic Republic as baseless, called it “propaganda” that “should be considered part of America’s election campaign.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also yesterday, Sunday, in his first response to the activation of the snapback mechanism by the United States, stressed that Iran “will not bow to bullying.”
In a cabinet meeting, he described Washington’s efforts to restore sanctions as failed and noted: “If the five countries that remain in the nuclear agreement today comply with all the agreements and principles to which we committed in this agreement, we too will fully return to our commitments.”
The Islamic Republic has stated that the condition for adhering to the JCPOA is the continuation of economic and banking cooperation by the three European parties to the nuclear agreement with Iran.
Although European countries have opposed the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and the imposition of US sanctions against Iran, with the intensification of US threats to reimpose sanctions against the Islamic Republic, major European and German companies have ended their cooperation with Tehran.
European countries have explicitly stated that they have no ability to support international companies, especially those operating in the United States, and such companies must make decisions based on their own interests.
Source: DW
