The abyss of Washington’s sanctions

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he is "disturbed and indeed deeply disappointed" by the EU’s decision to create a “special purpose vehicle” (SPV) designed to allow trade with Iran and bypass Washington’s illegal sanctions.

This comes after the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini said technical details of the SPV, planned in coordination with Russia and China, are to be determined soon.

America's top diplomat is free to give harsh words for Europe and its fellow remaining members of the Iranian nuclear deal after it was announced they would develop a financial mechanism to bypass US sanctions and continue doing business with Iran. However, he is wrong to assume that Washington’s unilateralism and sanctions policy can continue apace without international consequences and backlash.

In recent years, sanctions, no matter how illegal and ridiculous they are, have been enshrined in the foreign policy bible by the US government. The US State Department has even announced sanctions against China and its military for buying the Su-35 fighter jet and the S-400 air defense system from Russia.

In 2017, the US Congress passed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), under which any country or person dealing with listed Russian defense companies will face so-called "secondary sanctions" from the US government.

By its definition, "secondary sanctions" apply to non-US persons for wholly non-US conduct that occurs entirely outside the country's jurisdiction. Punishing the entity or person outside its own sovereignty is not only ridiculous paranoia, but also undisguised arrogance. Increasing sanctions against countries doing business with Iran shows how deep US foreign policy is sliding into the abyss of unilateralism.

What should be kept in mind is that the United States opened certain "back-doors" to the sanctions. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 passed in July 2018, granting the US president a waiver clause to the CAATSA - if it is considered to be "in the US diplomatic interest," the president has the right to announce a 180-day sanction exemption period to a country.

This waiver clause is tailor-made for strategic partners like India, whose armed forces are equipped with many Russian weapons and can't afford a quick cut-off from the Russian military industry. However, the final decision on the waiver still lies in the hands of the US president, which means countries in urgent need of maintaining arms sales with Russia will have to yield to political and strategic pressures from the United States.

In fact, the sanctions against Iran should be regarded as a signal to other regional players that also engage in potential arms sales with Russia, such as India, Turkey, and Indonesia. The Trump administration may have three goals for the sanctions.

Firstly, push Russian companies out of its traditional markets, starve the Russian defense industry, and destroy the legitimacy of the Putin government if possible.

Secondly, use the waiver clause as bait or leverage, induce and force countries that need to maintain arms sales with Russia to accept the political and diplomatic conditions imposed by the United States. As mentioned above, India may meet some US requirements in exchange for the waiver, such as cutting oil imports from Iran from November.

Thirdly, force those countries to gradually re-adopt weapon systems and technology standards from the United States and other Western countries, thus casting influence on those countries of geostrategic significance.

However, given the fact that countries like Iran that builds its own military hardware and has experienced Western military embargoes for more than three decades, new US sanctions will cause little damage to its military modernization. 

On Tuesday, September 25, the international civil society rejected US President Donald Trump’s call for rejecting globalism and embracing patriotism at a speech to the United Nations General Assembly that was interrupted by derisive laughter from world leaders.

In the course of the bombastic address, Trump highlighted the achievements of his presidency, lashed out at enemies – Iran foremost among them – and railed against multilateralism in its spiritual home, the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

In one of the more remarkable moments in the history of the annual UN summit, the chamber broke out in spontaneous laughter at Trump’s claim that “in less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country”. Clearly taken aback, Trump said, “I didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK.”

But he also didn’t expect that Washington’s traditional allies in Europe would also reject his one-man foreign policy and “nationalism”. His damaging actions and obnoxious is the reason why the world is in turmoil now. World leaders laughed at him and didn’t stand by idly in the face of his assault on globalism, multilateralism, human rights and international institutions.

What Trump and his one-man foreign policy has done to the world is not a joke and certainly the UN General Assembly is not a comedy club for a thunderous recitation of his “America First” policies or go-it-alone views that have strained US relationships with the world and destabilized the planet.

While addressing the assembly, for instance, French President Emmanuel Macron discredited Trump after the US president urged the world to isolate Iran, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism and sowing "chaos, death and destruction" in the Middle East. This is while the country is still in the 2015 nuclear deal despite Trump's withdrawal from it, and 12 reports by the International Atomic Energy Organization have substantiated that.

Macron, nevertheless, called for "dialogue and multilateralism" on Iran, shortly after Trump promised hard-hitting sanctions against Tehran. Just like his Chinese, Russia, British and German counterparts, Macron credited the historic nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015.

Reality slapped Trump in the face again when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took aim at him in yet another defiant speech. In a direct reference to the United States and its Middle Eastern allies, Rouhani condemned the “recklessness of some states for international values,” and the fact that while most leaders use their time on the UN stage to list the international agreements they have made or helped to protect, Trump clearly delighted in telling the world how many such pieces of paper he had voided.

Trump may not fully understand why his second address at the General Assembly was met largely by silence from the “globalist” enemy and why world leaders laughed at him. As Rouhani made clear, they all care about facts, as “confronting multilateralism is not a sign of strength. Rather it is a symptom of the weakness of intellect - it betrays an inability in understanding a complex and interconnected world.”

By most accounts, the law of the survival of the fittest, protectionism and isolationism that Trump advocated at the UN will only lead to heightened tensions and conflicts across the globe. It is up to world leaders, therefore, to say no to Trump’s erosion of multilateralism.
World leaders have a duty to stand up for global peace and security. Under International Law and the UN Charter, they must safeguard multilateralism and collective action in international affairs, and reject Trump’s “doctrine of patriotism” and “economic terrorism.” They must reject the obsolete manifesto for ‘nativitism’ and ‘nationalism’ that Trump advocates in the world, let alone his undiplomatic attitude towards the world issues.

(Courtesy of Fars news agency)

EA/MG