Biden Admin Silent as EU, Iran and China Freely Violate US Sanctions
by Majid Rafizadeh • November 6, 2021 at 5:00 am
The Trump administration sent a robust message that violating sanctions would not be tolerated. But since the Biden administration came to power, it seems that almost everyone has been violating the US sanctions in Iran, China or wherever, and no one is being held accountable.
The Biden administration appears not to be taking any action against countries such as China or Iran, which continue freely to violate sanctions while using the revenues to bulk up their war machines.
This US passivity seems due an emerging pattern from the Biden administration of serial surrenders, as seen recently in Afghanistan, on the pretext that "We still believe diplomacy is the best path forward" -- without the threat of an alternative outcome.
This US inaction also seems due to the false belief and myth, which the Obama administration seems to have held as well, that if you appease predatory regimes -- if you side with the mullahs rather than your old regional allies such as Israel -- then the ruling mullahs will suddenly change their behavior and become constructive players in the Middle East. The eight years of appeasement towards them by the Obama administration only further empowered the Iranian regime and happily bankrolled their military adventurism and nuclear program.
One of the reasons behind US sanctions is to financially pressure a rogue state, such the Iranian regime, to halt its destabilizing behavior and its march towards acquiring a nuclear bomb. But if sanctions are being freely violated without any consequences, there is no incentive for a predatory and dangerous regime such as Iran to stop its malign activities.
Although the US sanctions did have a negative impact on Iran's economy when they were first re-imposed by the Trump administration in 2018, they have become far less effective as many countries ignored and violated them -- all while the Biden administration has not been taking any action to deter, disincentivize or punish those who breach the sanctions.
