US Treasury Secretary has recently made a historic admission by saying that the US administration knows sanctions as an alternative to military war, Rabiei said on Monday in his weekly press conference in Tehran.
“Americans are using sanctions because they know that there are no rules in place to support victims of sanctions,” he added.
He went on to say that US officials’ claim that they are not seeking war is aimed at deceiving the international community. “Surely, the American people will eventually realize that such pressures and sanctions affect global peace and security and amount to imposing war on innocent people.”
Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday that sanctions like those on Iran are used in order to avoid potential war.
“The reason why we’re using sanctions is because they are an important alternative for world military conflicts. And I believe it’s worked,” the secretary told Doha Forum. “So whether it’s North Korea, whether it’s Iran or other places in the world, we take the responsibility very seriously.”
Washington has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran’s economy after withdrawing from the UN-endorsed Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018. Using dollar as a weapon, the US administration has also forced other countries to abide by the sanctions. Tehran has described the measures as a form of ‘economic terrorism’ which is hurting the Iranian people. European signatories to the deal have vowed to shield Iran’s economy from damages of sanctions but no practical step has been taken so far.
MNA/ 4799229