Trump plans last arrow in sanctions quiver against Iran

The Trump Administration is preparing to introduce a new round of sanctions to prevent every last avenue of legal financial exchange with Iran, US media reports say.

The proposal is still under review and hasn’t been sent to President Donald Trump, but Bloomberg disclosed that it will target more than a dozen banks and label Iran’s entire financial sector off limits.

Since almost all aspects of life are already effectively under the most aggressive US sanctions ever, the new measures are unlikely to have any meaningful bearing on Iran’s economy and seem mostly a political stunt ahead of the US election.

The proposal is an escalation of Washington’s futile bid to force Iran into new negotiations over its nuclear program, two years after Trump withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal with Tehran and reimposed sweeping sanctions.

Bloomberg said the proposed sanctions aim to close the few remaining financial loopholes allowing Iran to earn revenue, and stymie Democrat Joe Biden’s promise to return to the nuclear deal if he wins the presidency in November.

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According to the financial news provider, the measures could sharply hinder Iran’s ability to secure supplies of food and medicine at a time the country struggles to contain a resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak.

The US has blacklisted more or less all of Iran’s international banks. Under the new plan, it will reportedly add the last 14 banks to the list.

Included in the list are Saman Bank and Middle East Bank, the two remaining lenders still able to import food and pharmaceuticals into Iran, Bloomberg said.  

The new sanctions would leave Iranian companies increasingly dependent on a small network of informal money changers overseas who can execute financial transfers.

Hence, the Trump administration seeks to also target money-changers and hawala transfer systems and anywhere money changes hands, the US will try to stop it.

“I really don’t know what to say. Access to money will definitely get even harder for us,” said Abdolreza Hejazi Farahmand, chief executive officer of Tehran-based Behestan Plasma PJS Co. which produces plasma-derived products for hemophiliacs, told Bloomberg.

“So they want to completely suffocate us,” said a 33-year-old employee at a pharmaceutical company based in Tehran, identified only by her first name as Sara.  

The US government claims humanitarian goods are exempt from its sanction. But a web of sanctions tied around Iran over years has made foreign banks and companies extremely wary of engaging in any trade with the country.  

Health officials say Iran can produce more than 96 percent of its medical needs. But specialist treatments such as those for cancer or donor transplants often rely on imports.  

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President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday condemned US "barbarism” for inflicting damage on Iran due to sanctions.

"With their illegal and inhuman sanctions, and terrorist actions, the Americans have inflicted 150 billion dollars of damage on the people of Iran,” Rouhani said in televised remarks, his voice shaking with anger.

"The address for Iranian people’s curses and hatred is the White House,” he said. 

Washington imposed new sanctions last week on Iran’s defense ministry and others involved in its nuclear and conventional weapons program. On Thursday, Washington blacklisted several Iranian officials and entities over alleged human rights issues.

Rouhani said the White House is responsible for all the hostile measures and crimes against the Iranian nation.

"The Americans stopped the entry of medicine and food to our country through illegal and inhumane sanctions as well as terrorist operations. We have never seen people with such level of barbarism at the White House. They committed the worst atrocities,” he said.

The Iranian president also hit out at the US administration for blocking Tehran’s efforts to receive a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April to fight the new coronavirus outbreak.

Rouhani praised the Iranians, saying despite the inhuman sanctions, "our people stood firm and resisted, did not knit their brows and did not bow to these bullies.”

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