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U.S. to Restore Sanctions on Iran Following Withdrawal From Nuclear Deal U.S. to Restore Sanctions on Iran After Withdrawal From Nuclear Deal
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said it would restore sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear accord at midnight on Monday, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran while worsening a divide with Europe. WASHINGTON — The United States will reimpose sanctions against Iran at midnight on Monday, restoring economic penalties that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear accord and ratcheting up pressure on Tehran while worsening divides with European allies and other world powers.
The new sanctions are a consequence of President Trump’s decision in May to withdraw from the nuclear deal with world powers. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that the goal was to get Iran to change its ways — including ending all nuclear enrichment and curbing its weapons programs, as well as ending its support of brutal governments or uprisings in the Middle East. The sanctions are a consequence of President Trump’s decision in May to withdraw from an international deal that sought to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing pressure on the country’s shaky economy. Mr. Trump blasted the deal long before becoming president; his administration is betting that backing out of it will force Iran to shut down its nuclear enrichment efforts, curb its weapons program and end its support of brutal governments or uprisings in the Middle East.
European officials have said that the Iran nuclear agreement is crucial to their national security. International inspectors have concluded that Iran is complying with the accord. In a statement, Mr. Trump again described the nuclear deal — by which other world powers are still abiding — as “horrible, one sided.” He said the Iranian government “faces a choice: Either change its threatening, destabilizing behavior and reintegrate with the global economy, or continue down a path of economic isolation.”
The new sanctions bar any transactions with Iran involving dollar bank notes, gold, precious metals, aluminum, steel, commercial passenger aircraft and coal, and they end imports into the United States of Iranian carpets and food stuffs. European officials have said that the Iran nuclear agreement is crucial to their national security, and international inspectors have concluded that Tehran is complying with the accord. “We are determined to protect European economic operators engaged in legitimate business with Iran,” the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement on Monday. Russia and China also signed on to the 2015 deal.
They represent one of the few major foreign policy initiatives on which Mr. Trump and the rest of the administration and the Republican Party broadly agree. But faced with a choice between the tiny Iranian market, which never lived up to expectations, and the huge American market, major European companies overwhelmingly indicated they would observe the sanctions.
“We’re very hopeful that we can find a way to move forward, but it’s going to require enormous change on the part of the Iranian regime,” Mr. Pompeo said on Sunday. “They’ve got to behave like a normal country. That’s the ask. It’s pretty simple.” “We have suspended our activities in Iran, which were anyway very limited, until further notice according to applicable sanctions,” Daimler, the German maker of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks, said in a statement.
In a speech in May, Mr. Pompeo demanded that Iran end all nuclear enrichment and development of nuclear-capable missiles, release all American citizens, end its support for Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Houthi militias and withdraw its forces from Syria. The new sanctions bar any transactions with Iran involving dollar bank notes, gold, precious metals, aluminum, steel, commercial passenger aircraft and coal, and they end imports into the United States of Iranian carpets and foodstuffs.
He said such changes would be consistent with “global norms,” although the enrichment of nuclear material for civilian purposes and the development of rockets is allowed under international law. Additionally, Russia, Turkey, Iraq and the United States all have forces fighting in Syria’s seven year civil war. In a tweet on Monday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran said the sanctions would endanger ordinary Iranians — particularly those who would feel the effects of the penalties on passenger jets.
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, senior administration officials said they were simply looking for a change in behavior from Tehran, not for a change in government. They noted that the threat of new sanctions has already had an effect on the Iranian economy — including a plunge in the value of the rial, growing unemployment and increasing protests. The Trump administration “wants the world to believe it’s concerned about the Iranian people,” Mr. Zarif wrote. “U.S. hypocrisy knows no bounds.”
Some analysts have voiced fear about the Trump administration’s decision to go ahead with sanctions despite resistance from Europe, Russia and China. They worry the other world powers could find ways around the American-led financial system, undermining the success of sanctions in other areas. In a speech in May, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that Iran end all nuclear enrichment and development of nuclear-capable missiles; release all American citizens; end its support for Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Houthi militias; and withdraw its forces from Syria.
The European Union on Monday updated a blocking statute that seeks to protect European companies from any penalties imposed by the United States for doing business with or in Iran. But administration officials were dismissive of the European action, saying that more than 100 major businesses had already announced their intention to leave Iran ahead of the re-imposition of sanctions. He said such changes would be consistent with “global norms,” although the enrichment of nuclear material for civilian purposes and the development of rockets is, in most states, allowed under international law. Additionally, Russia, Turkey, Iraq and the United States also have forces fighting in Syria’s seven-year civil war.
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, senior administration officials said they wanted a change in behavior from Tehran, and were not demanding a change in government. They noted that the threat of new sanctions had already had an effect on the Iranian economy — including a plunge in the value of the rial, growing unemployment and increasing protests.
Some analysts worry that the Trump administration’s decision to go ahead with sanctions would encourage Europe, Russia and China to find ways around the American-led financial system and undermine the success of economic penalties in other areas.
The European Union on Monday updated a blocking statute that seeks to protect European companies from any penalties imposed by the United States for doing business with, or in, Iran. The measure threatens companies with penalties if they comply with American sanctions, putting some in a bind.
The law was originally passed in 1996 to protect companies against penalties imposed for doing business in Cuba, Libya and Iran. For years, the United States largely ignored European investments in Cuba to avoid friction.
But while top American officials said on Monday that they would continue talking to foreign counterparts to cooperate on sanctions, they vowed to undertake vigorous enforcement of the restored penalties against Iran — regardless of European concerns. They also said more than 100 major businesses had already announced an intent to leave Iran, ahead of the sanctions.
In practice, the blocking statute is likely to be difficult to enforce.
“The idea that the European Commission would come after Siemens or Total for not doing business in Iran is legally dubious and politically very tricky,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “I can’t imagine that happening.”
While European leaders insisted they would resist the sanctions, some have quietly taken actions to comply.
The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, introduced a change to its rules last month that could block the transfer of hundreds of millions of euros from an Iranian bank in Hamburg back to Iran. The Bundesbank is the conduit for major international transfers of money.
Europe could undertake the provocative step of instructing state-owned banks and energy companies — which are largely insulated from American penalties — to do business with Iran.
“But I don’t see Europeans ready to pull the trigger on those types of measures, so most companies are making the unhappy decision to side with the U.S.,” said Peter Harrell, who was a sanctions official in the Obama administration.
“The Trump administration’s approach to Iran is to build a coalition of the unwilling that has to pull out,” Mr. Harrell said.
European leaders’ powerlessness to counter American sanctions has only added to their fury. It widens a divide over a host of issues including NATO, immigration and relations with Russia that could undercut current efforts to defuse tensions over trade.
Sanctions could also serve as further irritants to ties with China and India, both of which have significant economic relations with Iran.
For Beijing, the threat of American sanctions arising from transactions with Iran is just one in a growing portfolio of disputes, including a worsening trade war, restrictions related to North Korea and military tensions in the South China Sea.
Many large Chinese firms are state-owned and have limited exposure to the American market, leaving them able to continue dealings with Iran. Beijing is unlikely to seriously curb economic ties with Tehran unless it receives significant concessions on other issues — something the Trump administration is unlikely to grant.
India is one of the largest buyers of Iran’s oil, and has pledged to invest millions in Iran’s Chabahar Port. Recent demands by top American officials that India reduce its oil imports from Iran to zero by November led to hard feelings in New Delhi. Those demands were later softened, but the damage was done.
An even tougher round of sanctions is scheduled to go into effect in November, including sanctions on Iran’s sale of crude oil and transactions with its Central Bank.An even tougher round of sanctions is scheduled to go into effect in November, including sanctions on Iran’s sale of crude oil and transactions with its Central Bank.
Administration officials said they hoped to get more international support for their efforts against Iran in the coming months, but they promised to be unrelenting in their re-imposition of sanctions even if other governments did not agree with the policy.
Over the weekend, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran met with a host of counterparts at a security forum for Southeast Asian nations held in Singapore, and he posted on Twitter a series of photos of himself smiling with officials from other nations.
“Clear global consensus on need to take concerted action to preserve JCPOA,” he tweeted, referring to the nuclear deal.