Iran Sanctions: The Death Knell of American Exceptionalism and Hegemony

Rasa - On Monday, the Trump administration announced the re-imposition of the “toughest” sanctions ever against Iran.

News ID: 441421

Date: 07 November 2018 - 14:23

RNA - They had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, after the US pulled out of the agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia.

The sanctions, objected by the world community, are supposed to hit Iran's oil exports, shipping and banking. However, the US has agreed to grant temporary waivers to eight countries - China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey - on Iranian oil imports.

Nevertheless, the unilateral sanctions disregard the Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015), which endorses the JCPOA, which means the world community needs to act before this gets out of control. After all, no one expects Iran to stay in the deal if it doesn’t see any economic benefits.

The good news is that the United Nations, the European Union, as well as Russia and China have all made clear that they will continue to do “legitimate trade” with Iran and disregard Washington’s threats. More so, the majority of UN member states see Washington as bullying others with the threat of its military and sanctions regime. They also see the US as not obeying International Law.

The truth is that the Trump regime’s bullying is a deep part of American culture. This is especially true of the political and media establishments, who present themselves as being civil and savior, and anything but bullies. The inconvenient truth is that bullying is embedded in American culture, governing elites and most powerful institutions: the military, the corporation, and the state. They all live in a society that bullies the world through militarized capitalism. And they never bother to play by international rules and protocols.

Likewise, the war-party establishment embraces a global militarism that threatens and bullies all nations opposing US interests. Although Trump preaches many universal values with a pledge to “save the world from tyranny,” he is still explicit in his embrace of Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Iranophobia, Russophobia, and even torture and murder. The latest case could be Trump’s inaction over Saudi Arabia’s grisly killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2.

As is often the case, Washington’s blatant foreign policy of bullying and sanctions threatens not just Iran, but the entire international community because it draws attention to the subtler bullying that is commonplace within the American political establishment. Both the Democratic and Republican parties favor war, bullying, sanctions and threats – albeit using different approaches.

According to Fars News Agancy, it is crucial therefore to the warmongers that their international bullying be disguised as a legitimate practice that serves universal purposes. Faith in their rule can be maintained only if most of the world community sees militarism, war, and corporate power not as bullying, but as "moral intervention".

In the prevailing environment, the international civil society and independent nations don’t have to abide by Washington’s self-serving rules and bullying tactics, including its addiction to sanctions. Sovereign nations don’t have to embrace the bullying code of the US military either. Quite the opposite, the world community hold the US to account for its illegal move to reinstate sanctions on Tehran.

According to Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo, "The UN and its member states, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the international law, should resist against these wrongful acts and hold the United States accountable for such actions. The irresponsible conduct of the US necessitates a collective response by the international community in order to uphold the rule of law, to prevent undermining diplomacy and to protect multilateralism."

Taken together, all UN member states seeking to survive and succeed in a violent, destabilized world - even Washington’s allies in Europe - cannot be complicit in the use and abuse of American military power and bullying tactics to rule the world. The policy of sanctions and threats by the US against Iran and the international community proves beyond any doubt that no change in Washington will ever come to reinforce multilateralism. Hence, the UN can no longer rely on Washington to impose order worldwide, and should take matters into its own hands.

In these contemporary times, the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran has both reinforced the dark underside of American society, giving it unprecedented divisive voice on the world stage, and moved to destroy the world order. It is perfectly clear that the outcome has to be the death knell of American exceptionalism, hegemony, and influence.

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