The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill
Tuesday placing new sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia. This follows a
similar version adopted overwhelmingly by the Senate in a 98-2 vote last month.
The House resolution, however, faced a more peculiar road even
riddled with obstacles. Fortunately, the overwhelming 419 to three vote in
favor of this bill, the bipartisan Countering Adversarial Nations Through
Sanctions Act (H.R.3364) has made it veto proof. Despite the fact of
alterations made in the initial text, all glitches have been set aside to gain
White House consent.
“TheRevolutionary Guards (IRGC), not just the IRGC Quds Force, is responsible for
implementing Iran’s international program of destabilizing activities, support
for acts of international terrorism and ballistic missiles,” the House
Resolution text reads in part.
This
development is a devastating blow to Tehran and a major success for the Iranianopposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Calls forregime change in Iran and support for the NCRI have been gaining unprecedented
weight in Washington, leaving Iran’s mullahs utterly terrified.
Iran
has been found “threatening U.S. national security and undermining global
stability with a range of aggressive acts” through ballistic missile tests,
supporting terrorist organizations and meddling in the internal affairs of
other states. The House bill is calling for political and economic measures to
place Iran before accountability.
This
resolution can fundamentally be considered the blacklisting of Iran’s IRGC as the criteria imposes mirroring
restrictions, and at times goes even further.
The
IRGC will be placed on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists
following these procedures becoming law and US President Donald Trump taking
the engagements necessary. The following is a list of the actions stated in
this House resolution:
·
All assets and property in the
US belonging to IRGC-linked individuals and entities will be frozen.
·
No American individual or
entity has the right to establish financial, business, services or other
affiliations with any individuals directly or indirectly associated to the
IRGC.
·
No American individual or
entity has the right to violate these sanctions through intermediaries or
bypassing these procedures.
·
All individuals and entities
having any relations with the IRGC must be sanctioned. Considering the fact
that the IRGC officially enjoy a variety of connections and associations, this
will effectively be paralyzing for Iran. One such example is the IRGC Khatam
al-Anbiya group that is currently cooperating with more than 2,500 economic
firms. All these companies will be sanctioned, rendering any relations with
them illegal.
·
As these measures place theIRGC under secondary banking sanctions, practically no financial institution
will be permitted to provide direct and/or indirect banking services to
IRGC-linked individuals and entities. No foreign bank will cooperate with any
Iranian entity that is in any way related to the IRGC and/or its affiliated
entities.
These
sweeping arrangements follow the NCRI’s annual convention held on July 1st in Paris this
year with senior American figures such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calling for even more drastic moves
against Iran.
“It is long past time to declare the IRGC a
terrorist organization. They on their hands the blood of so many of your
people, and they have on their hands the blood of my people, too, whom they
helped to kill in Iraq. We should declare them a terrorist organization so we
can cut them off support around the world,” Giuliani said in his speech at the
NCRI event
“It is long past time to declare the IRGC a
terrorist organization. They on their hands the blood of so many of your
people, and they have on their hands the blood of my people, too, whom they
helped to kill in Iraq. We should declare them a terrorist organization so we
can cut them off support around the world,” Giuliani said in his speech at the
NCRI event.
Through Iran’s
perspective, these new methods are the “mother of all sanctions,” as described
by Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Keyhan daily, considered the
mouthpiece of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This sheds light on the
significant political impact of these sanctions for Tehran.
These
new sanctions come at a time when the Trump administration is blueprinting its
comprehensive Iran policy, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary
of Defense James Mattis both mentioning regime change in recent remarks.
These
actions are the building blocks for the next vital steps necessary for
Washington and the international community:
·
Officially designating the IRGC
as a foreign terrorist organization,
·
Standing alongside the Iranian
people and their organized opposition, represented by the NCRI, to realize regime
change in Tehran.
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