The United States government is preparing to implement an additional level of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to meet a dozen demands that are so absurdly unreasonable that they have been called a regime change policy in all but name. The sanctions which have already been implemented have already badly hurt the Iranian economy, the sting of which is being felt first and foremost by Iran’s poor and sickly.
In an article titled “Iran’s poor to bear brunt of Trump’s oil sanctions“, Financial Times documents how poor Iranians are already strained to the breaking point from the cutbacks they’ve had to make in food and groceries. An article titled “In Iran, US sanctions are being felt, with harsher measures to come” by the Christian Science Monitor details difficulties Iranian charities are having getting medicine to sick children, including chemotherapy treatment, having already run out of four life-saving drugs. In an article titled “US fails to shield humanitarian trade with Iran as sanctions loom“, Al Monitor details the way humanitarian aid, while ostensibly exempt from the sanctions, has been severely impacted by their economic aspect because humanitarian aid costs money. The Wall Street Journal further explains the effects of America’s economic warfare on ordinary Iranian civilians in an article titled “Iran Moves to Shelter Millions as U.S. Sanctions Bite“.
This is before the US implements a new level of attacks upon Iran’s oil industry, a primary economic lifeline, which is scheduled to begin on November fifth. If Iran can’t find a way to get around these crushing sanctions in a significant way, many civilians already stretched far too thin will be pushed past the breaking point.
And who is the US government blaming for the consequences of its economic warfare? Why, the Iranian government, of course.
The International Monetary Fund @IMFNews is projecting a 3.6% decline in #Iran’s economy next year. That’s what happens when the ruling regime steals from its people and invests in Assad—instead of creating jobs for Iranians, they ruin the economy.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 29, 2018
“The International Monetary Fund @IMFNews is projecting a 3.6% decline in #Iran’s economy next year,” tweeted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “That’s what happens when the ruling regime steals from its people and invests in Assad—instead of creating jobs for Iranians, they ruin the economy.”
Pompeo talks about the Iranian people a lot. A recent State Department release is packed with lines like “Iran’s actions have made the country a pariah, much to the despair of its own people”, and “clerics and officials have wrapped themselves in the cloak of religion while robbing the Iranian people blind,” and “The United States is asking every nation that is sick and tired of the Islamic Republic’s destructive behavior to stand up for the Iranian people.” But Mike Pompeo does not care about the Iranian people. Plainly.
Sanctions are so weird. Imagine if the US government had listed twelve ridiculously extreme demands of Tehran, and then when those demands weren’t met they launched a few dozen Tomahawk missiles into an Iranian suburb. And imagine, if you will, what the response would be if Secretary Pompeo had then issued a tweet saying “Boy, it sure was awful of the Iranian regime to launch those missiles at its own civilians!”
He would never do such a thing, of course, because nobody would buy it. But for some weird, entirely narrative-based reason, the US government can get away with killing the same number of civilians by depriving them of food and medicine and say it’s Iran’s fault for not bowing to Washington’s twelve demands. The civilians would be just as dead as they would have been if they were killed by Tomahawk missiles, and the US government would be just as culpable for their deaths as they would have been if they’d killed them by missile strike. We can be absolutely certain that the US government would acknowledge such economic sanctions as an act of war (which they unquestionably are) if any foreign nation ever implemented anything similar against America. But for some weird, stupid, nonsense reason, the medieval siege tactic of starving them to death and cutting them off from supplies is something that can still be blamed on a sovereign nation for refusing to obey the commands of a foreign government. For some weird, stupid, nonsense reason, sanctions are the only form of warfare where it is considered both legal and acceptable to deliberately target a civilian population with lethal force.
https://twitter.com/sonofnariman/status/1057017293736214534
https://twitter.com/sonofnariman/status/1057023711579176960
This, by the way, is all coming after the UN’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ordered the United States to remove any impediments to humanitarian aide in the sanctions that it has implemented, to which Washington responded by withdrawing from two international agreements which could lead to any legally binding rulings by the ICJ. Any other nation which refuses to comply with UN rulings is branded a rogue nation by the US-centralized empire and targeted for regime change, but when the US does exactly the same thing we’re meant to look at it as perfectly normal and acceptable.
The US has defended its dismissal of the ICJ ruling by citing the exemptions it has made for humanitarian aide in its sanctions, with Secretary Pompeo asserting the following:
“Existing exceptions, authorizations, and licensing policies for humanitarian-related transactions and safety of flight will remain in effect. The United States has been actively engaged on these issues without regard to any proceeding before the ICJ. We’re working closely with the Department of the Treasury to ensure that certain humanitarian-related transactions involving Iran can and will continue.”
“Not only is he not being accurate, he is lying,” Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council told the Real News of Pompeo’s remarks. “The Trump administration has not issued a single license since they took power. They know quite well that they’re doing everything to scare banks away from the Iranian market, which then is affecting the ability for the Iranians to pay for medicine and medical supplies, even though that is supposedly exempt. So essentially what they’re saying, hey, we made those exempt. Yes, but you have targeted the financial system so harshly, so indiscriminately, so no bank is willing to handle transactions with Iranian banks. And as a result the Iranians cannot buy medical supplies, and their medical shortages are a direct result of the sanctions.”
What will Secretary Pompeo say when civilians begin dropping dead? Will he claim that “the price is worth it”, as his predecessor Madeleine Albright said of the thousands of Iraqi children killed in sanctions upon Iraq? Will he cite the constantly recurring lie that it is because Iran is the world’s top sponsor of terrorism? Will he claim that it is because it is somehow wrong for Iran to defend its ally Syria from the violent jihadist factions who attempted to effect regime change in Damascus with western backing? Or will he just be honest, and admit that it’s because Iran has one of the few governments in the strategically crucial and resource-rich Middle East which has refused to be absorbed into the blob of the US empire?
Hey, a girl can dream.
______________________
Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal,buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.
Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2
23 responses to “US Blames Iran For Impoverishing Civilians While Prepping Further Sanctions”
Just exactly WHY does the US “just happen” to conduct perpetual war? The US’s economic system requires perpetual war to generate profit for literally trillions in investments.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/a-glimpse-into-the-u-s-warfare-state-abyss/
What do you do if you are Iran and you want the EU to continue to fulfill its commitments under the JCPOA and trade with you after the US illegally pulled out of the JCPOA and re-imposed illegal economic warfare on you? You conduct some “terror plots” across the EU that will give the EU just the excuse they desperately needed to go along with its US master and also re-impose sanctions.
..
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/europe-opens-door-to-sanctions-on-iran-after-terror-plots-in-denmark-paris
The Red Brigade 2.0?
Skripal 3.0
Your article is on largely on target as far as the culpability of the US regime is concerned. What unfortunately tends to get lost track of is the fact that the Iranian regime is very corrupt and oppressive. I’d suggest you subscribe to one of the good labor sites, such as LabourStart. The Iranian regime is a leader in generating appeals by LabourStart for help with the jailing and torture of yet another labor militant.
When the Shah was overthrown the mullahs, led by Khomeini, stole power from a revolution that was led by secular forces. They then launched a very bloody repression, particularly aiming at left groups. Since then they’ve established a clerical kleptocracy The mullahs should be overthrown, but not by any grouping supported by the US. Indeed, US support would likely be the kiss of death to regime challengers.
Will, the Iranian mullahs will soon be dying off. They will not be replaced because the Iranian young people want change for the better.
THANK YOU Caitlin thank you for this excellent essay. I appreciate how you clarify what the sanctions mean by analogy to killing with weapons. brilliant, Caitlin.
Anyone wish to support Palestine? join the Australian BDS Movement, to support sanctioning Israel for their crimes. Look for the UPDATE BOX to register!
https://bdsmovement.net/tags/australia
Ever since the Anglo-Zionist were kicked out of Iran in the 1970’s they have been trying to settle the score.
The zionist controlled U.S. with Israel and Saudi Arabia are the true state sponsors of global terrorism.
The destruction of Iran, Syria, Iraq and the balkanization of the entire MENA region is done at the behest of the zionist that control the U.S. government. It not just about building pipelines and oil it is about the destruction of these nation-states and cultures.
The Oded Yinon Plan/The Greater Israel plan openly admits this
https://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east/5324815
However to many so-called independent journalist self censor themselves to openly speak about this.
The West is nothing more than the Anglo-Zionist empire.
Smile. Arab/Nato (new happy name) will save us, or Oprah. II saw it on TV! Help the people and Planet. Vote D or R Lemmings 2016 ! B. d. s. Mandela’s grandson said Gaza is even worse than Grandpa’s situation. Is the word Democracy Inc. registered on Go Daddy?
Once you are able to untangle yourself from the daily news dramas that are designed to distract and disorient, stand back and get a glimpse of the over-arching plan, that the US is banking-run empire bent on world domination, everything then begins to fall into place and make sense:
– FDR’s New Deal, which reallocated just enough wealth in order to avert a domestic socialist/communist takeover.
– CIA intervention in any socialist leaning government in our hemisphere resulting in military dictatorships.
– Nearly 800 military bases scattered throughout 70 countries, not counting black sites.
– Numerous Middle East wars waged on false pretexts.
– Media blackout, sabotage, or assassination of any left-leaning populist candidate like Bernie Sanders.
– The demonization and financial repression of Venezuela, Iran, and Russia, to name a few.
– Government sponsored unlimited immigration in the US and Europe in order to weaken national culture and cohesiveness.
– All needed in preparation for their dreamt-of one world government.
This grand scheme is too diabolical even for Trump. And Pompeo is a wuss of a yes man that has learned how to lie well.
Of course, I could be wrong but, to me, this stinks of John Bolton psychopathic mind – anything to promote the possibility/likelihood of war.
The ongoing ramp-up for a war against Iran gets little attention from progressive candidates seeking election in this month’s mid-terms. Probably the main reason is the “support-the-troops” mentality of many rural and red-state voters. A great many of those voters have been drawn by Bernie’s emphasis on Medicare-for-all, free college, and $15 minimum wage—but the troop-support meme pulls them the other way. So the Iran war build-up is getting a pass by virtually all the candidates.
The US is struggling against the emergence of a multipolar order that it cannot win.
It will only be successful in bringing immense suffering, death, and destruction to the Middle East and elsewhere such as in South America where it is counter attacking and crushing independence from US control.
The US exhibits peak stupidity thinking it can subdue or defeat the Russia/China alliance – it is a symptom of its insanity.
It will eventually be exhausted – the symptoms of its coming collapse inward are apparent.
But until then humanity has to suffer the ghoulish late stage of the US Empire of Insanity.
“…has refused to be absorbed into the blob of the US empire?”
And what is the heart of that blob? A Rothschild controlled central bank. Therefore it is not a US empire. It is a Rothschild empire, AKA Globalism. The US is just the muscle in the Globalism racket.
I would say in general, that I am a supporter of DJT. Let me re-phrase that, I think the figurehead of DJT has done some good things as well as a number of things I disagree with. The support of Iranian sanctions is one in which I most strenuously disagree with. This, along with his policy toward the Syrian War.
It is quite obvious to the observant person, Zionism and Saudi Arabian considerations strongly influence US foreign policy. I do believe that there is a shadow government that is really calling the shots, and DJT is the latest incarnation that the shadow government is presenting to the American public. While the public is caught up in the illegals migration, the election cycle and all the rest of the political distractions thrown our way, the deep state continues onward in it’s quest to expand the empire while enriching itself in the process.
Dito, past conversations compared to now. I will let you perceive this conversation of times past as you may. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXlIZBZpkoA
Why is the entire world NOT cutting the US off – declaring sanctions against their weaponry, there automobiles, their farm machinery, their ambassadors, their cultural fifth columnists! Why can we not say that enough is enough! It such a shame that the US population is so ignorant of its own government and ugly policies against the peoples of the world – about US lies and deceit and interference in the governance of other sovereign lands. I would trust China, NKorea and certainly Iran well ahead of the US – and for heaven’s sake that is a country in which I have literally dozens of cousins! And we speak more-or-less the same language! Will we ever have Australian politicians who do not lick the bootstraps of the US? Ugh and Grr!
When Men were Men and Women were Women. Now they are all just scared pussies.
I know, I know, women now are liberated and the men are now “educated”. Really? Who looks stronger as a sex? Is it what we have now? This lame, afraid – or borish – excuse for Men and Women; or, what we used to be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue2aARtH-a8
This obscene murderous behaviour by TPTB will only be stopped by us little people coming together in common cause.
There’s one modest but potentially powerful thing all of us can do as we approach the Mother of All Poppy Days/Armistice Days – 100 years after cessation of fighting in WWI. The red poppy and war memorial services have been largely co-opted by TPTB as a recruiting tool.The Peace Pledge Union is selling white poppies as a symbol of remembrance for ALL people who have suffered because of war. Wearing a white poppy is a small gesture that would mean a lot if huge numbers of people joined in. The Peace Pledge Union has interesting info on the white poppy symbol and its history, and a link for buying them.
https://www.ppu.org.uk/remembrance-white-poppies
To the neocons BDS is racist and unfair but boycotting to death the citizens of Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and Palestine is “strategy? May Trump and Pompeo be reborn to the same fate they so flippantly condemn upon others. At least they will lose some of that fat.
Exactly right, Caitlin. Bravo!