US to impose new financial sanctions against Iran: Trump administration officials

The administration of US President Donald Trump plans to impose additional sanctions on Iran’s financial sector that would block the few remaining avenue of legal financial exchange with Tehran, according to three administration officials.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday that the new restrictions, which are expected to be announced on Thursday, would target the few remaining banks not currently subject to “secondary sanctions,” the Washington Post reported.

The US State Department and Treasury Department declined to comment on the development.

The US uses what it calls “secondary sanctions” to pressure third parties into stopping their activities with the sanctioned country.

Experts believe that the move is likely to diminish channels Iran uses to import humanitarian goods, such as food and medicine especially at a time when the country is struggling to contain the new coronavirus outbreak.

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Last month Bloomberg said that the new US measure would target more than a dozen banks and label Iran’s entire financial sector off limits.

Since almost all aspects of life are already effectively under the most aggressive US sanctions ever, the new measures are unlikely to have any meaningful bearing on Iran’s economy and seem mostly a political stunt ahead of the US election.

The proposal is an escalation of Washington’s futile bid to force Iran into new negotiations over its nuclear program, two years after Trump withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal with Tehran and reimposed sweeping sanctions.

Bloomberg said the proposed sanctions aim to close the few remaining financial loopholes allowing Iran to earn revenue, and stymie Democrat Joe Biden’s promise to return to the nuclear deal if he wins the presidency in November.

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The US government claims humanitarian goods are exempt from its sanction. But a web of sanctions tied around Iran over years has made foreign banks and companies extremely wary of engaging in any trade with the country.  

Health officials say Iran can produce more than 96 percent of its medical needs. But specialist treatments such as those for cancer or donor transplants often rely on imports.  

The proposal to blacklist the entire Iranian financial industry has been pushed by Israeli officials and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish US nonprofit organization that has advocated for regime change in Iran.

“To land a 12th-round economic knockout, it’s time for Mr. Trump to throw one more punch: Blacklist the entire Iranian financial industry,” wrote the foundation’s Mark Dubowitz and Richard Goldberg in an Aug. 25 opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal.

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