{"id":2415,"date":"2018-11-12T01:27:08","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T01:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2018-11-12T01:27:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T01:27:08","slug":"us-reinstates-tough-iran-sanctions-amid-anger-in-tehran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2018\/11\/12\/us-reinstates-tough-iran-sanctions-amid-anger-in-tehran\/","title":{"rendered":"US reinstates tough Iran sanctions amid anger in Tehran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States<\/a> has reimposed oil and financial sanctions against Iran, significantly turning up the pressure on Tehran\u00a0in order to curb its alleged missile and nuclear programmes.<\/p>\n

The move on Monday will restore US sanctions that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal<\/a> negotiated by the administration of President Barack Obama, and add 300 new designations in Iran’s oil, shipping, insurance and banking sectors.<\/p>\n

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani<\/a> vowed to break the sanctions imposed on Tehran’s vital energy and banking sectors.<\/p>\n

“America wanted to cut to zero Iran’s oil sales … but we will continue to sell our oil … to break sanctions,” Rouhani\u00a0told economists at a meeting broadcast live on state television on Monday.<\/p>\n

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Bahram Qasemi told state TV that the new sanctions are part of a psychological war launched by Washington.<\/p>\n

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“[US President Donald] Trump’s administration is addicted to imposing sanctions … America’s economic pressure on Iran is futile and part of its psychological war against Tehran,” Qasemi told a weekly news conference.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo<\/a> said the sanctions are intended to convince Iran to “abandon its current revolutionary course”.<\/p>\n

“The Iranian regime has a choice: it can either do a 180-degree turn from its outlaw course of action and act like a normal country or it can see its economy crumble,” said Pompeo.<\/p>\n

“We hope a new agreement with Iran is possible but until it makes changes in the 12 ways<\/a>that I listed in May, we will be relentless in exerting pressure on the regime.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE<\/div>\n

‘Don’t threaten us,’ Iranians tell US as sanctions return<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

“Rest assured, Iran will never come close to getting a nuclear weapon on President Trump’s watch,” said Pompeo, adding that 19 rounds of sanctions have so far been imposed during the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Also on Monday, the Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging service announced it was suspending access for some Iranian banks “in the interest of the stability and integrity of the wider global financial system”.<\/p>\n

The US government has previously told SWIFT that it is expected to comply with US sanctions and it could face sanctions if it fails to do so.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Tehran, said the strong talk coming from Iran was a defence strategy.<\/p>\n

“Many Iranians we speak to tell us consistently that they have come to learn the only language the US understands is the language of strength.”<\/p>\n

Before a campaign rally for the US midterm elections<\/a>, US President Donald Trump<\/a> on Sunday said that Iran was already struggling under pressure by his administration.<\/p>\n

“The Iran sanctions are very strong; they are the strongest sanctions we have ever imposed. And we will see what happens with Iran, but they’re not doing very well, I can tell you,” he said.<\/p>\n

‘Worst ever’ agreement<\/h2>\n

Trump announced in May that his administration was withdrawing from what he called the “worst ever” agreement negotiated by the US and reimposed a first round<\/a> of sanctions on Iran in August.<\/p>\n

Other parties to the deal, including Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, have said they will not leave.<\/p>\n

The Foreign Ministry’s\u00a0Qasemi said\u00a0Iran is in constant contact with other signatories of the nuclear deal that\u00a0saw most international financial and economic sanctions on\u00a0Iran<\/a>\u00a0lifted in return for Tehran curbing its disputed nuclear activity under UN surveillance.<\/p>\n

“We are in regular contact with other signatories of the nuclear deal … setting up mechanisms to continue trade with the European Union will take time,” Qasemi told a weekly news conference in Tehran.<\/p>\n

China, India, Italy Japan, Greece, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey – all top importers of Iranian oil – are the eight countries granted temporary exemptions from the sanctions to ensure crude oil prices are not destabilised, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday.<\/p>\n

Anger in Iran<\/h2>\n

Earlier, thousands of Iranians rallied to mark the anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n

Addressing the rally in Tehran on Sunday, Iran’s military chief, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, warned Trump against overreaching when dealing with Iran.<\/p>\n

“I want to say something to America and its weird president,” Jafari said.<\/p>\n

“Never threaten Iran, because we can still hear the horrified cries of your soldiers in the [desert] \u2026 and you know it better, how many of your old soldiers in American society commit suicide every day because of depression and fear that they suffered in battlefields.<\/p>\n

“So, don’t threaten us militarily and don’t frighten us with military threats,” he added.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, Tehran has accused Trump of waging “economic warfare” and devastating its economy.<\/p>\n

In his speech, Jafari assured the crowd that Trump’s attacks on Iran’s economy were a desperate attempt to defeat the republic and were doomed to fail.<\/p>\n

But his optimistic tone stood in stark contrast to the widespread economic chaos Iran has endured during the past 12 months, including a nosedive in the value of its currency, a shake-up of President Hassan Rouhani’s economic team – which saw several senior ministers dismissed – and nationwide protests<\/a> against price increases and dire economic conditions.<\/p>\n

Based on the figures from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iran’s petroleum exports hit $52.728bn in 2017. Its crude oil exports stood at 2,125,000 barrels per day during the same year, while its natural gas exports reached 12.9 billion cubic metres.<\/p>\n

Those numbers, however, have already dropped in the current year.<\/p>\n

In India, for example, crude oil imports from Iran dropped from 690,000 barrels per day in May to around 400,000 barrels per day in August, Vandana Hari, a Singapore-based global oil market analyst, said.<\/p>\n

Iran’s energy sector accounts for up to 80 percent of the country’s income from exports, according to the US Energy Information Administration, so a disruption could bring serious pain to its financial bottom line and its people.<\/p>\n

Aside from the energy industry, others outfits and activities being sanctioned include:<\/p>\n