{"id":165069,"date":"2020-07-20T12:01:17","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T11:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=165069"},"modified":"2020-07-20T11:51:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T10:51:05","slug":"trumps-harsh-sanctions-lead-to-iran-china-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/07\/trumps-harsh-sanctions-lead-to-iran-china-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Harsh Sanctions Lead to Iran-China Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

China\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi shakes hands with Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on December 31, 2019, in Beijing, China. Noel Celis \u2013 Pool \/ Getty Images.<\/p><\/div>\n

15 Jul 2020 – <\/em>China and Iran have drafted a \u201csweeping economic and security partnership<\/a>,\u201d according to\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0New York Times.<\/em>\u00a0China will get a regular, heavily discounted supply of Iranian oil for the next 25 years, as well as an expanded role in Iranian banking, ports, railways, telecommunications and myriad other projects. Iran and China will also increase their military cooperation.<\/p>\n

This \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d is the result of Donald Trump\u2019s punishing sanctions against Iran. Although it has not yet been formally approved by Iran\u2019s Parliament, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran\u2019s supreme leader, favors the partnership.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal \u2014 the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In the JCPOA, which the Obama administration negotiated, Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for billions of dollars of relief from punishing sanctions. Although Iran was complying with the agreement, Trump cancelled the deal.<\/p>\n

Trump reimposed the harsh sanctions which include closing the international banking system to any company that does business with Iran. This has had\u00a0a devastating effect on Iran\u2019s economy<\/a>\u00a0from the loss of foreign trade.<\/p>\n

European countries refrain from trading with Iran to avoid the U.S.\u2019s wrath. \u201cBut Tehran\u2019s desperation has pushed it into the arms of China, which has the technology and appetite for oil that Iran needs,\u201d Farnaz Fassihi and Steven Lee Myers\u00a0reported in the\u00a0Times<\/em><\/a>. Iran, one of the world\u2019s leading oil producers, has seen its oil exports plummet from Trump\u2019s sanctions.<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department\u00a0responded to the announcement<\/a>\u00a0of the new partnership by pledging to \u201ccontinue to impose costs on Chinese companies that aid Iran, the world\u2019s largest state sponsor of terrorism.\u201d This refers to Iran\u2019s support for Hezbollah and Hamas. Both of these organizations emerged in resistance to U.S.-supported Israeli violence and aggression, which vastly exceeds anything attributed to those groups.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s economic support for Iran is not the only aid the U.S. government will find objectionable. China could obtain access to Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, \u201cthe world\u2019s most important oil chokepoint because of the large volumes of oil that flow through the strait,\u201d\u00a0the U.S. Energy Information Administration\u2019s website says<\/a>. \u201cAmerican warships already tangle regularly with Iranian forces in the crowded waters of the Persian Gulf and challenge China\u2019s internationally disputed claim to\u00a0much of the South China Sea<\/a>, and the Pentagon\u2019s\u00a0national security strategy<\/a>\u00a0has declared China an adversary,\u201d\u00a0Fassihi and Myers noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The United States maintains a baseline of over 60,000 U.S. forces in and near the Persian Gulf. By early 2020, about 14,000 U.S. military personnel had been added, according to a\u00a0May 2020 report<\/a>\u00a0of the Congressional Research Service (CRS).<\/p>\n

Tensions Between the U.S. and Iran Are Already Mounting<\/h3>\n

The partnership comes on the heels of six months of increasing tensions between the United States and Iran. On January 2,\u00a0Trump illegally assassinated<\/a>\u00a0Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani and Iraqi senior military leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside the Baghdad airport in Iraq.<\/p>\n

In a report released on July 7, Agnes Callamard, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, concluded that the drone attack that killed Suleimani, al-Muhandis and eight other members of Iran\u2019s military was unlawful. Callamard wrote that\u00a0the strike violated the UN Charter<\/a>\u00a0as there was insufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack and it thus constituted \u201can act of aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Iran has issued arrest warrants for Trump and 35 other U.S. military and political leaders involved in Suleimani\u2019s killing. They have been charged with \u201cmurder and terrorism acts,\u201d\u00a0Iran\u2019s\u00a0Islamic Republic News Agency<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On July 2, Israel mounted a damaging attack on Iran\u2019s Centrifuge Assembly Center at Natanz. Some officials told the\u00a0Times\u00a0<\/em>that a \u201cjoint American-Israeli strategy was evolving<\/a>,\u201d which included the attacks on Suleimani and the Natanz facility. In light of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo\u2019s close relationship with Yossi Cohen, director of Israel\u2019s spy service Mossad, it\u2019s \u201cdifficult to believe that Mr. Pompeo has no idea\u201d about the Natanz explosion, David Sanger wrote.<\/p>\n

U.S. officials are seeking an extension of the UN Security Council ban on arms transfers to Iran, set to expire on October 18, \u201cin order to prohibit Russia and China from proceeding with planned arms sales to Iran,\u201d\u00a0the May CRS report says<\/a>. But China and Russia, both permanent members of the council, have veto power over any such extension. If the U.S. doesn\u2019t succeed in extending the ban, it \u201cmight use its sanctions laws and authorities to deter any arms sales to Iran,\u201d\u00a0a July 6 report of the CRS indicates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bipartisan Attempt to Limit Further Expansion of 2001 AUMF<\/h3>\n

On July 9,\u00a0a bipartisan group of congress members announced<\/a>\u00a0their introduction of the Limit on the Expansion of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act. It does not attempt to repeal the 2001 AUMF, which has been used to justify U.S. military intervention in \u201cdozens of countries.\u201d Nor does it make \u201ca statement on current or previous U.S. military actions.\u201d The bill says that the 2001 AUMF \u201ccannot be used as the basis for sending our military into any country where U.S. armed forces are not engaged in hostilities today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would the bill apply to Iran? It depends on whether U.S. armed forces are engaged in hostilities in Iran. After the Suleimani killing, U.S. officials stated that the \u201cUnited States is not currently engaged in any use of force against Iran<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 6, Trump vetoed\u00a0S.J. Res. 68<\/a>, which both houses of Congress had passed. It would have directed the president to end the use of U.S. forces in Iran unless authorized by Congress. In his\u00a0veto statement<\/a>, Trump wrote, \u201cContrary to the resolution, the United States is not engaged in the use of force against Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

If China and Iran conclude their partnership agreement, Trump would presumably be less likely to use military force against Iran. If he did, he would have to be willing to take on China as well. That would be most unwise.<\/p>\n

In addition, if Trump committed another act of aggression against Iran, he would likely face large protests like those that occurred after Suleimani\u2019s assassination.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – popularresistance.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

15 Jul 2020 – China and Iran have drafted a \u201csweeping economic and security partnership.\u201d China will get a regular supply of Iranian oil for the next 25 years and an expanded role in Iranian banking, ports, railways, telecommunications and other projects. They will also increase their military cooperation. This is the result of Trump\u2019s sanctions against Iran and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran\u2019s supreme leader, favors the partnership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":165073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[244,272,435,742,339,70],"class_list":["post-165069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-china","tag-cooperation","tag-free-trade","tag-iran","tag-trade","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}