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US forcing businesses to stay away from Iran: Analyst

Thursday, 28 April 2016 5:20 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 28 April 2016 5:17 AM ]

This file photo shows US Capitol in Washington, DC.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Hafsa Kara-Mustapha, a journalist and political analyst in London, and Jim Walsh, with the Security Studies Program at MIT in Boston, about the United States attempts to obstruct international trade with Iran despite last year’s nuclear agreement.

Kara-Mustapha says the United States has respected the nuclear deal with Iran on paper, but continues in practice to fuel an “anti-Iranian sentiment” that forces businesses to stay away from Iran.

“What America has been doing is actually blowing hot and cold; so while it has officially lifted the sanctions it has nevertheless continued with a very Iranophobic rhetoric that actually makes businesses very scared to get involved with Iranians,” she states.

She adds that the deep-rooted anti-Iran sentiments in Washington are very much supported by the “powerful Zionist lobby” that uses Iran as a distraction from the crimes being committed by Israel.

The analyst further says while the financial institutions do want to benefit from the Iranian market, they still fear a sudden change of sanctions regime that could force them to see their assets frozen.

“The financial sector works essentially on perception and if the constant perception of the Iranian market is that it is about to come back under the regime of sanctions then it is understandable for many financial institutions to refrain from doing business in this country,” she says.

Walsh, for his part, believes the United States cannot “force” private actors to do business with another country, adding that it is harder to remove sanctions than to impose them.

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