Zarif: US Sanctions Indicate Disregard for Human Rights

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, characterized recent US sanctions against the Islamic Republic as an indicator of “disregard for human rights regarding all Iranians” and the United States’ “addiction” to sanctions.

Iran’s Foreign Minister on his personal Twitter page described the recent US sanctions against Iran as stemming from “absolute disregard for the rule of law” and “the United States’ addiction to sanctions,” writing that this “addiction has gotten out of control.”

According to Reuters news agency, the US Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned two Iranian banks and several companies and institutions affiliated with the “Basij Cooperative Foundation.”

Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted regarding this matter: “The latest US sanctions violate two rulings of the International Court of Justice: preventing humanitarian trade and not escalating disputes.”

Regarding the sanctioning of companies that the US has called affiliated with the “Basij Cooperative Foundation,” he wrote: “An Iranian private bank that played a key role in importing food and medicine has been sanctioned due to alleged connections, and through eight intermediaries, with another illegal target.”

He continued: “By comparison, all humans on Earth are connected to each other through six intermediaries, do the math yourselves!”

Zarif’s reference is to the “Six Degrees of Separation” theory, which states that any two people on Earth are connected through six degrees of separation or fewer.

Iran Tractor Manufacturing Company, Mobarakeh Steel Industries of Isfahan, Bank Mellat, Bank Parsian, and Iran Minerals Development Company are among the companies and institutions targeted by the new US sanctions.

Tensions between Iran and the United States escalated after US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran (JCPOA) in May and the reinstatement of sanctions in August.

This was the first round of sanctions reinstatement. The second round of sanctions, which according to US officials will target Iran’s oil industry, is set to begin on November 4.

Bahram Qassemi, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, also called the sanctioning of the mentioned companies by the US Treasury Department an “open insult by the United States to international legal mechanisms.”

According to ILNA, Qassemi, referring to the recent interim order issued by the International Court of Justice asking the US to refrain from taking any action that would escalate the dispute or complicate its resolution, said: “The behaviors and approach that the US government has adopted and this country’s non-compliance with international mechanisms, rules, and rights not only threaten the interests of the Iranian people but also endanger global stability and security.”

The United States has called the JCPOA a “bad deal” and says the agreement does not address Iran’s regional behavior and Islamic Republic’s missile program and should be changed.

Reviving sanctions that had been lifted under the JCPOA could affect Iran’s oil exports and other goods and the value of Iranian currency and create more problems for Iran’s banks.

Last December, following increased economic problems, protests erupted in Iran, which despite severe suppression and confrontation, rapidly spread to more than 80 cities.

Since then, protests have continued sporadically in various forms, including among truck drivers, teachers, bazaar merchants, and farmers, which in some cases have led to violence with the intervention of security forces.

Source: DW