US tries to pressure Southeast Asia into sanctioning Iran: Bloomberg
Al Mayadeen | May 7, 2024
The United States is attempting to rally the support of Southeast Asian countries to implement further sanctions on Iran and its allies in the Axis of Resistance.
An unnamed senior US Treasury official made the revelation during a visit of American officials with Southeast Asia oil industry executives, regulators, and financial institutions to ensure the enforcement of sanctions on Russia and Iran, according to Bloomberg.
Washington is accusing Iran and “groups like Hamas” of soliciting money in Southeast Asia.
Specifically, the US is attempting to tighten its unilateral sanctions on Russia by involving Southeast Asian entities in the process, which involves cutting off pathways for the sale of Russian oil and Moscow’s sourcing of critical dual-use components from the region.
However, Iran has been the main focus of US officials in the region, given its historically friendly ties with countries like Malaysia. Earlier, the US administration passed a package of measures, which includes sanctioning foreign ports, vessels, and refineries that process or ship Iranian crude.
The sanctions would also attempt to enforce restrictions on all oil-related transactions with US-sanctioned Iranian banks. US officials are attempting to utilize the supposed environmental risks of dealing with Iran-affiliated vessels to pressure Malaysia into colluding with Washington.
Iran’s oil exports skyrocket
In the 12 months up until the end of March 2024, Iran’s oil exports reached $35.8 billion, Iran’s head of Customs Mohammad Rezvanifar said today, as reported by the Iranian Labour News Agency.
Even though the US renewed its sanctions on Iran in 2018, Chinese-Iranian trade, specifically Chinese purchases of Iranian oil, has aided Iran in keeping a positive trade balance.
Iran’s total trade witnessed a 2.6% year-on-year increase, hitting a value of $153 billion, of which $86.8 billion was Iranian exports, Rezvanifar added.
As Tehran continues to cement its position in global trade, away from the US-controlled financial system, the country grows as an economic power. Oil sales are essential for the development of Iran’s industrial sectors, which further spur the country’s goal of economic independence.
Considering that Iran is a threat to American hegemony in West Asia, specifically to the Israeli regime and other US military assets, Washington has gone back to reinforcing restrictions on the inevitable rise of Tehran as a regional and possibly global leader.
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Containing the United States
By Edward S. Herman | Z Magazine | September 2016
“Containing the United States” is, of course, a ridiculous and self-contradictory idea in the U.S. and Western ideological and propaganda system. We all know that the United States had to “contain” the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991, and since then has had the task of containing Russia and China. Only they threaten, bully, aggress and worry countries like Poland and Vietnam. Obama has had to reassure them both of our steadfast stand against Russian and Chinese military attacks. NATO has, of course, expanded greatly over the past several decades, despite the deaths of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, but only to contain the renewed Russian — and Iranian, Libyan, Syrian and other — military threats; and we have “pivoted” to Asia, supported Japanese rearmament, bolstered our own forces in that area and jousted with the Chinese in their coastal waters solely to contain China. Earlier we had been obliged to contain North Vietnam, or was it the Soviet Union in Vietnam? Or China? Or “communism”? Or maybe all of them? Or none of them, but just needing an excuse to enlarge power?
The parallel propaganda has taken many forms. One is accepting as a premise that the United States only acts defensively and has no internal forces and interests that drive it to enlarge its sphere of control. I noted in an earlier article how Paul Krugman claims that internal Russian problems may well be the explanation of Russian “aggression,” but how at the same time it never occurs to him that the huge U.S. transnational corporate interests and “defense” establishment, and the pro-Israel lobby’s activities, might possibly make for an expansionist dynamic here.2 This reflects the standard establishment perspective that we are good and only react to evil. This was the view sustaining and justifying the invasion and occupation of Iraq from 2003. That attack was taken here as not evil but a response to evil, even if involving lies and mistakes, hence not describable as “aggression.” … continue
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