Are US sanctions on Iran effective?

World
Europe

05:05

President Trump announced on May 8, 2018, that the United States has withdrawn from the Iran Nuclear Deal, and said that his country will resume all the sanctions which were suspended within the framework of the deal against Iran. This move has been opposed by many countries.

“The US hawkish policy to Iran will be rendered as ineffective”, says Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a senior political analyst, in Iran. He maintains that Tehran is not afraid of American sanctions, which include a ban on Iran's acquisition of dollar notes and their trade in gold and other precious metals.

Khoshcheshm says that, for the Iranian government, the scenario is not completely new. He points out that Iran gathered experience under the former administration, and that its government has also drafted numerous comprehensive plans, and packages to prepare for the threat.

Washington is also pressuring other countries to stop buying crude oil from Iran from this November onward. According to Khoshcheshm, other countries will not answer that call.

“The United States is not as powerful as it was before in rallying international support,” Khoshcheshm claims, believing other countries will not pay the price for Trump’s hawkish policy.

Khoshcheshm states Iran’s major trade partners, including its energy importers like China and Japan, understand that it will be costly to import oil from elsewhere. At the same time, he says Saudi Arabia does not have the capacity to replace Iranian crude oil.

Khoshcheshm believes many crude oil buyers are standing up to the US, as American sanctions will trigger sky-rocketing oil prices that will damage the economy and growth rate of other economies such as China, Japan, and S. Korea.

As Washington is threatening banks and businesses in other countries that continue to do business with Iran, Khoshcheshm says since the European countries have already stated that they will not have their major enterprises and firms operating and investing in Iran, meaning Tehran needs to look to the East and expand its cooperation with countries like China.