Posts tagged : "anti-Iran sanctions"

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Ordinary citizens pay the price for the U.S. sanctions against Iran: David Cortright

Ordinary citizens pay the price for the U.S. sanctions against Iran: David Cortright

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: The imposition of new sanctions against Iran by the United States after the de-certification of the Iran nuclear deal by the U.S. President Donald Trump is being widely debated these days. These sanctions are mostly controversial because of the highly detrimental impact they leave on the lives of the ordinary citizens in Iran while they don't have the endorsement of the United Nations Security Council and the European Union. The critics of the sanctions argue that they make it impossible for Iran to import food, medicine and other humanitarian goods, lead to the impoverishment of average citizens by debilitating Iran's currency rial, reduce the purchasing power of the Iranians and at the same time violate the...

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If Iran Changes Course, America Will Open Its Arms: Matthew Kroenig

If Iran Changes Course, America Will Open Its Arms: Matthew Kroenig

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: It has been more than six months since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal. The JCPOA was the outcome of months of talks between Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the European Union to find a viable solution to Tehran’s nuclear dilemma. Leading up to the agreement in 2015, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and then-US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to each other more than any other top diplomats in the world. This demonstrated that Iran and the United States, despite being rivals, can sit together respectfully and solve their differences through...

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There is no legal basis for the U.S. sanctions on Iran: Medea Benjamin

There is no legal basis for the U.S. sanctions on Iran: Medea Benjamin

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Iran is on the headlines once again. The United States has imposed the second round of sanctions against the Middle East nation after withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal. This time, the sanctions target Iran's oil and banking sectors and are expected to have an onerous effect on its economy. This is while the International Court of Justice had ruled following a complaint lodged by Iran to this court that the U.S. sanctions are illegal due to their detrimental impacts on the life of ordinary citizens and should be suspended. The United States ignored the ruling. A prominent human rights activist told the Organization for Defending Victims of...

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Four Things that Iran’s Rouhani Needs to Rectify Before it’s Too Late

Four Things that Iran’s Rouhani Needs to Rectify Before it’s Too Late

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: The United States is run by a businessman turned politician who is unwavering in his ignorance about many essentials including respect for multilateralism and concern for the value of human life outside the US borders. It’s difficult to convince Donald Trump to be mindful of the suffering of ordinary Iranian citizens while imposing new sanctions on the Middle East nation or instruct him to read 109 pages of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran nuclear deal) to figure out that long before announcing the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the agreement, he started violating its letter and spirit through his unhelpful public statements about the JCPOA being a badly...

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Trump Sanctions: The Latest Disappointment for the Advocates of Iran-US Reconciliation

Trump Sanctions: The Latest Disappointment for the Advocates of Iran-US Reconciliation

Kourosh Ziabari - Foreign Policy Blogs: When President Donald Trump announced on 8th May that the United States would not be a party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran deal, anymore, it was easily predictable that new tensions between Tehran and Washington will emerge soon. It didn’t take long for the European Union to voice its regret over President Trump’s decision and say in an unequivocal manner that Trump’s unilateralism won’t mark the premature death of the Iran deal, signed and sealed only three years ago.   Britain, France and Germany issued a statement in which they reiterated their continued commitment to the JCPOA as long as Iran abides by its nuclear commitments. They said...

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Does it Really Matter if Iranians Can’t Fly Safely?

Does it Really Matter if Iranians Can’t Fly Safely?

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Aside from its declining currency, which is known as one of the world’s most worthless currencies, Iran is reputed to have one of the most unsafe and aged aviation fleets. In recent years, hundreds of passengers have lost their lives while flying on Iranian airliners due to their age and the failure of the companies to improve their standards. The inability of Iranian airlines to buy new aircraft and renovate their fleet is mostly a result of economic sanctions that the United States has imposed on Iran since the 1980s. Some of the deadliest aviation accidents in the world have involved Iranian airliners. A notable example is the Caspian Airlines Flight 7908, which was a scheduled...

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Iran’s Woes: America Can Actually “Do a Damn Thing”

Iran’s Woes: America Can Actually “Do a Damn Thing”

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: During the tumultuous days of Iran’s revolution in 1979, the leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, used a statement in reference to the perceived United States intervention in Iranian affairs by saying that “America cannot do a damn thing.” Iran’s revolution was hugely anti-Western and the height of its antagonism to the West was reflected in the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979, in what came to be known as the Iran hostage crisis, and laid the groundwork for the severing of bilateral ties between Tehran and Washington. The “revolutionary” Iranians believed that the sovereignty and independence of the nation was compromised under King...

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How Iranians see Trump’s hit to the Iran Deal

How Iranians see Trump’s hit to the Iran Deal

Kourosh Ziabari - Gateway House: United States President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally decertify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the Iran Deal – was no surprise to Iranians and the international community. Withdrawal from it was one of the strange promises Trump had made during his presidential campaign, matching in eccentricity his Muslim ban, the Wall project along with the border with Mexico and the decision to negotiate with North Korea directly. Earlier this week, Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech toughened the U.S. stance on Iran. Some of the “sweeping changes” that the U.S. has sought include Iran’s agreeing to pull out of the Syrian war, reducing its...

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Is Iran the culprit or the victim?

Is Iran the culprit or the victim?

Kourosh Ziabari - Medium: There’s a lot going on about Iran in the headlines these days. Saudi Arabia finds it useful to direct timely and untimely ad hominem attacks against Tehran for its interference in the Yemeni affairs; the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations confidently lashes out at Iran in her speeches, talking about the need for the international community to condemn Iran for its destructive regional role, crackdown on human rights activists and pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile technologies. At home, people, whether those working as government employees or those running small enterprises are complaining about their situation. People of Iran by nature are never easily-satisfied and find the people in power the...

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Ambassador Peter Jenkins: This American Rose Is Sick

Ambassador Peter Jenkins: This American Rose Is Sick

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: The Iran nuclear deal, popularly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, has been widely lauded as a historic understanding that untangled an apparently intractable dilemma spanning over more than a decade, and opened broad new prospects for Iran and the international community to collaborate with no specter of distrust and confrontation around the corner. The global media and Iran pundits are diligently probing the different dimensions of the landmark deal and how it affects Iran’s connections with the outside world. At the same time, the JCPOA signed last summer constitutes an invariable theme in the U.S. presidential candidates’ debates and speeches these days. The Republican nominee...

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Iran’s not benefiting from the nuclear deal, and that’s not good for Rouhani

Iran’s not benefiting from the nuclear deal, and that’s not good for Rouhani

Kourosh Ziabari - Middle East Eye: When Iran and the six major global powers reached an agreement last summer to put an end to the controversy surrounding Tehran’s nuclear programme by announcing the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iranians flocked to the streets en masse, celebrating and rejoicing at what they believed would be the emergence of a new horizon in their lives. Most of them were youths, and the freshness of their teenage years had been spoiled by the adventurous policies of the former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who failed to fortify Iran’s oil-dependent economy in the years when the price of crude oil was at its all-time high and the nation allegedly earned something between...

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Interview with Dr. Sara Vakhshouri on New Opportunities for Investment in Iran’s Oil and Gas Industry

Interview with Dr. Sara Vakhshouri on New Opportunities for Investment in Iran’s Oil and Gas Industry

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: The introduction of the new contract model for Iran’s upstream oil and gas projects, dubbed IPC (Iran Petroleum Contract), has generated a great deal of enthusiasm among the energy experts and analysts who’ve been monitoring Iran’s market fluctuations following the imposition of sanctions on the country’s energy sector in 2011 and 2012 and the termination of those sanctions on the day of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action earlier in January. Iran has unveiled a new package of incentives for the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to bring their capital and technology into its money-spinning energy projects, and revised the terms of the old buyback contract model set...

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