Russian Foreign Minister Calls on the United States to Swiftly Remove Sanctions
Jose Nino
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In a video message directed to participants of the Moscow Conference on Nonproliferation on December 5, 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that the United States government must quickly lift all “illegal” sanctions it has subjected Iran to.
“Washington has not given up on the policy of ‘maximum pressure’ in relation to the nuclear deal with Iran,” the Russian foreign minister declared. Lavrov was referring to former US President Donald Trump’s policy towards Iran after his administration exited the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Lavrov called on American authorities to “lift all illegal sanctions against Iran as soon as possible and irreversibly and ensure the strict implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231” which issued an endorsement of the Iran Nuclear Deal.
He stressed that rescinding illegal sanctions would set the stage for Iran’s mutual “defrosting” of its voluntary commitments as outlined under the nuclear deal.
Despite President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign promise to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal, the deal appears to be moribund. Given the multiple decades of antagonism between the US and Iran, it makes sense for the two parties to not really improve their relations at this juncture.
Plus with so much Zionist influence in the highest echelons of US politics and corporate media, it’s very difficult to see US and Iran fully recalibrate their relations. Iran and Israel also have very fraught relations, which largely influences the way the US treats Iran.
On top of that, the newly emerging multipolar order offers new avenues for Iran such as cooperating more with China and Russia on a host of issues — cultural exchange, defense, trade, and technological transfers — that are simply not available with the Collective West.
As for sanctions, they simply don’t work. Decades of sanctions imposed on countries ranging from Cuba to Iran have done little to effect regime change in these countries. In the context of multipolarity, sanctions will only drive these “rogue” nations more into the arms of the Eurasian behemoths of China and Russia, thereby making them more potent and bothersome for the US.
That’s the reality of the new international order and many in the interventionist crowd in DC have not adjusted to this new dynamic.
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