In the latest move against the regime in Tehran, the US put sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry on Friday. The sanctions target Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company(PGPIC) and 39 of its subsidiaries, over its financial support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
PGPIC and its subsidiaries hold 40 percent of Iran’s petrochemical production capacity and are responsible for 50 percent of Iran’s petrochemical exports. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, “By targeting this network we intend to deny funding to key elements of Iran’s petrochemical sector that provide support to the IRGC.”
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted out a video of an Iranian mother saying she could not get new prosthetic legs for her growing boy due to US sanctions. Zarif said in the tweet, “This is @realdonaldtrump’s “economic war”. And war and talks – with or without preconditions – don’t go together.”
Zarif was responding to Mike Pompeo’s comments from Sunday, saying the US was ready to talk to Iran with no “preconditions.” It does not appear that more US sanctions will bring the Iranians to the negotiating table, but it seems like this is the strategy the Trump Administration will continue to pursue.
Dave DeCamp is a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn NY, focusing on US Foreign policy and wars. He is on Twitter at @decampdave.
What about calling it the “Trump régime” rather than use the word regime only for the elected government of Iran which is threatening and sanctioning nobody???
https://ejmagnier.com/2019/06/03/trumps-bellicosity-sells-weapons-but-also-boosts-iran-and-the-palestinian-cause/
Imagine if for some reason Iran decided to destroy one or two of its oil export terminals. Rather than suffer the financial and economic hit, why not have their trained demolition squads pick a few nations-Saudi Arabia, for instance-and set off a global daisy chain of oil price instability.
When the Iran government decides on this course, please restrict you communications as the NSA has global phone and internet monitoring capabilities. I believe the NSA calls it SIGNINT or signals intelligence. Let me say to Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif that I’m experiencing both. It only takes one weak link to scuttle an op.
To whom am I a danger to?