All US bans against Iran lack legitimacy: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Kaveh Afrasiabi, author and political Scientist from Boston, to get his take on recent remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei condemning the sanctions imposed on Iran over its peaceful nuclear activities.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Iran’s Leader says sanctions imposed on the Iranian nation are not because of its nuclear program or human rights issues, but because the nation has risen against arrogant powers. Now how do you relate this to the ongoing nuclear talks and the lifting of the sanctions?

Afrasiabi: I completely concur with what the Supreme Leader said, because there’s a long history of American hostility towards Iran that dates back to the onset of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that toppled the pro-American puppet regime basically. Not that we are on the verge of a breakthrough in the nuclear stalemate with all the incoming reports from Vienna suggesting that a final comprehensive deal is imminent, this speech by the Supreme Leader is very important because of the sheer entanglement of the nuclear as well as the non-nuclear sanctions that are imposed on Iran by the United States. And the entire sanctions by the US on Iran are questionable and lack legitimacy. And it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to disentangle or separate out the nuclear sanctions from other sorts of sanctions that are unreasonably imposed on Iran. I think that this statement by the Leader goes to the heart of this complication, and negotiators, particularly on the Iranian side, are trying to telescope the nuclear issue to the larger, broader array of sanctions that are imposed on Iran and need to be lifted hopefully by resolutions through the UN Security Council.

Press TV: In the context of the Leader’s speech, how much do you think the United States has the political will to lift sanctions on Iran and not crop up excuses to keep them in place?

Afrasiabi: Right now, there’s a very unique historical opportunity for the United States to reset its relations with Iran and move away from these instruments of coercion that it has utilized over the years or over the decades against Iran, cyber warfare, proxy wars and so forth being other methods. The United States has an opportunity to open a whole new chapter of relations with Iran and take advantage of market relations and security dialogue with Iran, etc., dealing with the common threat just as the Iranian foreign minister recently indicated. So I’m hopeful and optimistic that when and if a final deal is reached then this could serve as a stepping stone for broader dialogue between Iran and the United States in order to normalize their relations and start healthy relations that [are] far away from this very counter-productive and destructive pattern of coercive diplomacy highlighted by the sanctions.

Press TV: But of course on the other hand, what could happen if the nuclear talks fail? Would Washington lean towards its military option as it’s been talking about in the past?

Afrasiabi: I highly doubt it. I think that the United States should shelf this very unhealthy dialogue of military threats that it has used for a very long time and everyone knows that it seems impractical and it can only harm the US' own interest in the region. Speaking of human rights, I mean, somebody ought to focus on Saudi Arabia that is a key US ally in the region, and it’s committing genocide in Yemen. There’s hardly any reaction by the international community. And this goes again to what the Leader said about the hypocrisy of these Western nations that they profess respect for human rights and yet they turned blind eye to the atrocities committed by their allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel in the occupied territories.

ABN/MKA

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