Will the West Get Ever Serious about Sanctions on Iran?
by Con Coughlin • May 1, 2024 at 5:00 am
[D]espite the clear and present threat Iran poses to the security of both the Middle East and the wider world, Western governments are still proving reluctant to take any measures needed to cripple the Iranian economy.
A key factor in the reluctance of Western leaders to punish Iran for its aggression is the appeasement policy the Biden administration has pursued towards Iran in recent years in the naive hope that, by going easy on Iran, the Iranian regime might be persuaded to agree to a new deal on its nuclear activities.
"The Iranians have mastered the art of sanctions circumvention. If the Biden administration is really going to have an impact, it has to shift the focus to China." — Fernando Ferreira, head of geopolitical risk service at the Rapidan Energy Group, Financial Times, April 17, 2024.
If the West is really serious about holding Iran to account for its aggressive activities, then it... should include the possibility of imposing secondary sanctions against any country that continues to do business with Tehran in defiance of Western sanctions.
Without Chinese oil imports, for example, the Iranian oil industry would most likely collapse, thereby increasing the pressure on the Iranian regime to mend its ways.
If attempts by Western leaders to impose further sanctions against Iran in retaliation for its direct attack against Israel are to have any validity, they will need to be a great deal more effective than those implemented in recent decades.
For decades, the US and its allies have been imposing sanctions against Tehran in an attempt to restrain its malign support for terror organisations, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Wide-ranging sanctions have also been imposed against Tehran to curb its nuclear programme, which most Western intelligence agencies believe is ultimately aimed at fulfilling the Iranian regime's quest to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal.
This has led to restrictions being placed on Iran's ability to access technology and material that might be used to aid its nuclear development, while a range of other economic sanctions, especially limiting Iran's ability to export oil, have been implemented.
