With over a 12 months of sanctions failing to drive Tehran to bend the knee, Washington is now resorting to creatively invoking “weapons of mass destruction” – the exact same pretext the US used for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
On Wednesday, the US Treasury Division expanded sanctions towards Mahan Air, Iran’s largest privately-owned airline, citing a 2005 govt order by then-President George W. Bush concentrating on “weapons of mass destruction proliferators and their supporters.”
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Washington expands sanctions towards Iran’s largest airline, accusing it of weapons of mass destruction proliferation
Thoughts you, nowhere within the sanctions announcement does Treasury say that Mahan really transported WMDs. As an alternative, the airline is accused of flying personnel and weapons for Iran’s “terrorist and militant teams” and thereby “immediately contributing” to conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
In the meantime, the US is sending weapons to “reasonable” jihadist terrorists in Syria, and arming and refueling Saudi Arabian and allied forces which have been bombing Yemen to the stone age since 2015. That is by no means talked about, after all. Neither is anybody allowed to sanction Washington for any of this, as sanctions solely go in a single route.
The purpose of the sanctions is to scare anybody away from doing any enterprise with the blacklisted firms or people. Think about being sued by the US for violating sanctions towards “WMD proliferators” over fulfilling a catering contract, promoting airplane elements, or offering ticketing companies. It might sound nonsensical, however there you will have it.
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The State Division has mainly admitted to intentionally utilizing the WMD classification to make Iranian firms radioactive to potential enterprise companions.
“Our means to work with companions abroad to disclaim Iranian shippers entry to ports, or forestall transactions, far more diplomatically persuasive when capable of determine WMD or missile proliferation because the gravamen of the grievance,” is how Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of state for worldwide safety and non-proliferation, defined it to Monetary Occasions.
SANCTIONS ALERT: US hits Iran’s greatest airline and transport group with sanctions.
Large deal to hit IRISL with WMD designation. That is basically the CBI designation for Iranian transport. https://t.co/H2pjcUJ8KB
— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) December 11, 2019
That the Trump administration is utilizing the WMD gambit towards Iran is especially ironic, provided that demonstrably false accusations about WMDs have been utilized by Bush to invade the neighboring Iraq in 2003, setting off a series of occasions that claimed tens of hundreds of lives and gave start to Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS). Donald Trump has lengthy been essential of the Iraq Conflict, and particularly the false WMD costs, solely to apparently not thoughts when the identical playbook is used towards Iran.
What proof does the US have for Mahan really proliferating any WMDs? Humorous it is best to ask. US sanctions designations require no pesky proof, or due course of; they’re mainly imposed and lifted on the only discretion of Treasury, with none risk of enchantment or redress. That’s a mighty handy option to bypass the burden or proof.
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Formally, the sanctions are all about US solidarity with the “Iranian individuals,” as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo places it, and punishing the federal government in Tehran for funding “terrorism” as a substitute of spending cash on social applications. It’s a tempting narrative, to make certain – but no totally different from the claims of neoconservative hawks in 2003 that US troops will likely be greeted in Iraq with flowers, like liberators. Besides they have been met with improvised explosive gadgets (IEDs) as a substitute.
Once more, it’s notably ironic that each one of that is taking place on Trump’s watch and along with his obvious blessing, even because the neoconservatives and Democrats have joined forces in making an attempt to get him impeached. In Washington, it appears, the Swamp all the time wins.
By Nebojsa Malic, senior author at RT
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