I thank the US House for certifying Iran's compliance with the nuclear agreement. However, it is going to be difficult to enforce UNILATERAL sanctions on anything. There are other countries that will accept from Iran for requests that might be under USA sanctions.
October 27, 2017
By Zeesham Aleem
The House of Representatives (click here) overwhelmingly passed a bill that would hit Iran with a fresh batch of sanctions for its ballistic missile program in a vote held Thursday morning. The bill now moves to the Senate for its approval; if it becomes law, it would further strain already tenuous US-Iran relations but not outright violate the terms of the nuclear deal with Iran.
The House bill would require the Trump administration to identify companies and individuals, Iranian and non-Iranian alike, who are supplying the ballistic program. The sanctions options would include, among other things, freezing the US assets of suppliers, restricting their travel to the US, and banning imports from them.
Iran’s ballistic missile program isn’t covered by the Iran nuclear deal, which means these sanctions don’t violate the terms of the deal. But along with other recent sanctions on Iran’s foreign policy operations, they represent an escalation of pressure that could cause the country to try to retaliate against the US....
No one wants to hear over and over how much the Iraq invasion was in the way the world perceives the USA.
October 29, 2017
Dubai (Reuters) - Iran will continue to produce missiles (click here) for its defense and does not consider that a violation of international accords, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday in a speech broadcast on state television.
Rouhani spoke days after the U.S. House of Representatives voted for new sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile program, part of an effort to clamp down on Tehran without immediately moving to undermine an international nuclear agreement.
He also meet the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog in Tehran, who again vouched for Iran’s compliance with the 2015 accord that curbed its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, which has drawn fire from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We have built, are building and will continue to build missiles, and this violates no international agreements,” Rouhani said in a speech in parliament....
Just as a reminder, when the USA invaded Iraq it was in compliance with UN Resolutions. The talk in the USA by FOX News and Conservative Talk Radio is that Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military helped and harbored al Qaeda. That was proven to be false, even by David Kay, and other than the political engine of the GOP no other country every thought Iraq was harboring or assisting al Qaeda. I am not saying Saddam was a benign entity in the Middle East, but, he was not involved with the attacks on the USA on September 11, 2017.
There were also UN Inspectors in Iraq to investigate ANY possibility of Iraq having violated sanctions as well, including chemical and biological weapons. When the USA decided because Saddam could not produce paperwork that was grounds enough to invade.
So, the inspectors did not finish their work and the work they concluded proved Saddam and Iraq were in compliance with sanctions.
Now, in the year 2017, the USA has a President that doesn't like the work of his predecessors and rather than seeking proper channels to reengage talks, he simply steams forward as if he is a dictator and cannot be questioned. Does anyone actually believe after the invasion into Iraq and Trump at the helm, Iran is going to roll over and capitulate to all kinds of demands by a USA STILL operating unilaterally (which the invasion into Iraq was)?
Of course, not.
I am pleased to see the US State Department is taking a more reasonable stance to all this. There may be hope some dignity is left in the USA. But, Congress acting unilaterally does not instill international confidence.
