https://www.clarionproject.org/news/iran-threatens-retaliation-against-us-if-sanctions-extended#"Iran Threatens U.S. With Retaliations If Sanctions Extended
Although Iran says new sanctions would be a violation of the nuclear pact, Iran itself has violated the agreement, says the IAEA.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei threatened retaliations against the United States of sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic are extended.
The U.S. House of representative voted last week to extend the remaining U.S. sanctions against Iran – set to expire at the end of the year -- for another 10 years. The sanctions also include longstanding measures imposed by the U.S. that are not connected to Iran’s nuclear program, including forbidding Iranian access to the U.S. financial system and the use of the dollar, which Iran claims have hampered the economic windfall it expected from the deal.
In addition, the House passed a bill that would prevent companies such as Boeing and Airbus from selling commercial aircraft to Iran.
The measure would also have to be approved by the Senate as well as U.S. President Barack Obama.
Obama is expected to veto any such measure.
"The latest is extension of sanctions for 10 years, that if it happens, would surely be against JCPOA [the nuclear agreement], and the Islamic Republic would definitely react to it," said Khamenei in a speech to a group of Revolutionary Guards.
Although Iran says the extension of the sanctions is a violation of the nuclear deal made Iran and the world powers in the summer of 2015, the deal also contained provisions to “snapback†the sanctions if Iran were to be found in violation of the agreement.
Iran was recently found – for the second time -- to be in violation of the agreement by exceeding the 130 metric tonne threshold of heavy water material used in nuclear reactors, according to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Since the signing of the nuclear agreement Iran has engaged in a provocative “cat and mouse†game with the U.S.
The nuclear deal made with Iran and the world powers was sold to the public as a way to contain not just Iran’s nuclear weapons program, but its ballistic missile program as well.
Ballistic missiles are mainly used to deliver nuclear warheads. Under the terms of the agreement, the public was initially told that the current UN restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program would remain in effect for eight years, including forbidding Iran from testing of ballistic missiles.
Less than two months after the deal was formalized, a senior figure in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, announced, "Some wrongly think Iran has suspended its ballistic missile programs in the last two years and has made a deal on its missile program ... We will have a new ballistic missile test in the near future that will be a thorn in the eyes of our enemies."
After the first ballistic missile test conducted by Iran after the agreement was made, the U.S. administration backtracked, saying that the test was really not a violation of the nuclear agreement but there were “strong indications†that the test violated UN restrictions.
The second ballistic missile test came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel. Painted on the two missiles (which had the capability of reaching the Jewish state) were written the word in Hebrew, “Israel should be wiped out.â€
Biden said at the time, the U.S. would “act†if Iran broke the nuclear agreements, however, no action against Iran was taken by the U.S.
In addition, to the ballistic missile tests, since signing the agreement:
â— In September 2015, Iran simulated a missile attack on a US aircraft carrier in an agitprop video titled “If Any War happens.â€
â— In October 2015, just three days after one of the ballistic tests, Iranian state TV aired unprecedented footage of an underground missile base.
â— In December 2015, Iran tested rockets with live fire within 1,500 yards of American warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
â— In January 2016, Iran test-fired an upgraded surface-to surface cruise missile in a new set of wargames code-named Velayat-94
◠In January 2016, an unarmed Iranian surveillance drone flew near U.S. and French aircraft carriers in the Gulf, managing to take “precise†photos while the ship was involved in an ongoing naval drill. An Iranian submarine was also detected in close proximity to the aircraft carriers.
â— In January 2016, Iran captured 10 U.S. sailors whose boat had strayed into Iranian territorial waters. The soldiers were humiliated and held for 15 hours. Iran has since used the incident to mocked America in videos and plays.
“Without understanding Iranian culture, it is impossible to understand what is going on,†says Harold Rhode, an expert on Islamic culture who worked for the Pentagon for 28 years, in an interview with The Algemeiner. “Nothing is in and of itself. The way negotiations work among Iranians is that an agreement as we understand it means nothing. It is nothing more than a step along the way to getting what they want.â€
“From an Iranian cultural point of view, at all times there is a balance — ‘Are you giving it or are you getting it?’ … It’s simply domination; it’s simply power.â€
