US blockade of Iran would be an act of war: American analyst

Patrick Lawrence, an American political analyst and foreign affairs journalist, has said the US should not try to blockade the Islamic Republic of Iran in order to enforce illegal sanctions unilaterally, because blockades are acts of war.

For the first time in ten months, last week a US aircraft carrier sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and enters into the waters of the Persian Gulf, after Washington threatened to illegally extend an expiring arms embargo on Iran.

The US 5th Fleet said in a statement on Friday that the strike group led by the USS Nimitz and including two guided-missile cruisers and a guided-missile destroyer sailed into the Persian Gulf to operate and train with US partners.

The Nimitz strike group includes the USS Princeton and USS Philippine Sea, both guided-missile cruisers, and the guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett.

The United States regularly sends aircraft carrier groups into the Persian Gulf. But the Nimitz strike group is the first carrier to operate in the Persian Gulf since USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) made the Strait of Hormuz transit in November 2019.

This came just days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to enforce an arms embargo and “UN” sanctions against Iran, despite nearly the entire UN Security Council saying Washington does not have the grounds to do so.

On Monday, the United States imposed new unilateral sanctions against Iran after it failed to garner support for its anti-Iran move at the United Nations.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the new sanctions target Iran’s Defense Ministry and the country’s Atomic Energy Organization.

He also said that President Trump has issued an executive order "that is a new and powerful tool to enforce the UN arms embargo."

US goes it alone after UN rejects demand to restore Iran sanctions

The United States has imposed new unilateral sanctions against Iran after it failed to garner support for its anti-Iran move at the United Nations.

“Basically, the core problem here is the irrationality of the American position from the very first.  Trump came into the office complaining about the accord governing Iran's nuclear programs. It gave too much away to the Iranians and so on,” Lawrence told Press TV on Monday.

“I read it the other way around. Right, I thought Iran was if anything too generous with the P5+1 group. But the Americans withdrew, and they don't want to accept the consequences of that very bad decision. That's what's going on here. Pompeo I think we could take a lesson from this is an extremely irrational man. Perhaps your listeners know that you know he's a sort of evangelical extremist, not really in touch with reality the way let's say his counterpart in Iran, Mr. Zarif is. You're not talking to a rational man,” he stated.

“So he's pretending the laws, not the law the UN does whatever the Americans want. It's a patch job. They don't really know what else to do. I think they're floundering,” he added.

“If I may make one more remark here, I don't think these sanctions are going to make any difference. I don't think the Europeans are going to pay any attention to them. Certainly, China and Russia won't,” he noted.

USS Nimitz aircraft carrier enters Persian Gulf after Pompeo’s threats against Iran

A US aircraft carrier has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and enters into the waters of the Persian Gulf, as Washington has threatened to illegally extend an expiring arms embargo on Iran.

“However, my understanding is that last week the Pentagon sent carrier Task Force rather heavily armed through the Strait of Hormuz again. Now, these sanctions may not have any credibility. But if the Americans determined to enforce them unilaterally we may be looking at an attempt to blockade the Islamic Republic. That is a very, very dangerous situation. Blockades are acts of war. That's my concern at this moment,” he concluded.

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