Abstract
The objective of this chapter is to examine political dimensions of the sanctions against Iran that originated from and are still strongly characterized by the US unilateralism. The hypothesis is that changing political factors surrounding the US and Iran since 11 September 2001 shaped the sanctions regime but also provided room for compromise among all stakeholders. To examine this hypothesis, this chapter analyzes how the sanctions against Iran emerged and developed over the years and under what political contexts sanctions continue today. A perception of Iran’s nuclear ambition ultimately determined the course of events that led to the current multifaceted sanctions regime. The vicious circle of deadlocking nuclear negotiations and the subsequently strengthened sanctions against Iran reached a balance with the Joint Plan of Action in November 2013. The persistent pursuit of Iran’s right to enrichment, based on Iran’s maintaining the NPT’s principles, as well as shared interests between the US and Iran in the wider context of changing security situations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, define the political dimensions of American unilateralism and of Iran’s resistance to it.
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Notes
- 1.
See e.g., Farzanegan 2013, p. 15.
- 2.
Uskowi on Iran, 40,000 Rials for the Dollar Record—Iran, http://www.uskowioniran.com/2013/01/40000-rialsfor-dollar-record-iran.html#!/2013/01/40000-rials-for-dollar-record-iran.htm (accessed 9 June 2014).
- 3.
Ladane Nasseri, Iran Central Bank Can Help Slow Inflation: Official, Bloomberg, 5 December 2013, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-04/iran-central-bank-can-help-cut-inflation-in-half-official-says.html.
- 4.
David Bird, Sanctions Cut Iran’s Oil Exports to 26-Year Low, Wall Street Journal, 29 April 2013.
- 5.
EU Council Decision 2012/635/CFSP of 15 October 2012 Amending Decision 210/413/CFSP Concerning Restrictive Measures against Iran.
- 6.
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Iran, http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=ir (accessed 10 June 2014).
- 7.
Dupont 2012.
- 8.
Fiore 2011.
- 9.
Joint Plan of Action, Geneva (24 November 2013) available at http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2013/131124_03_en.pdf.
- 10.
Scott 2000, p. 178.
- 11.
Executive Order No. 12170, 44 F.R. 65729 (14 November 1979).
- 12.
Matthew 2012, pp. 76–86.
- 13.
Iran Threatens to Block Strait of Hormuz Oil Route, BBC News Middle East, 28 December 2011, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-16344102.
- 14.
See Bruno 2010.
- 15.
Executive Order No. 12613, 52 F.R. 41940 (30 October 1987).
- 16.
Executive Order 12957 60 F.R. 14615 (15 March 1995).
- 17.
See Katzman 2006.
- 18.
Leverett 2013, p. 245.
- 19.
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Treasury Cuts Iran's Bank Saderat off from U.S. Financial System, 9 August 2006, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp87.aspx.
- 20.
Feldman 2006, p. 6.
- 21.
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Additional Designation of Entities pursuant to Executive Order 13382, 73 F.R. 64007 (28 October 2008).
- 22.
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Export Development Bank of Iran Designated as a Proliferator, 22 October 2008, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp1231.aspx.
- 23.
Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, 22 U.S·C. § 8501.
- 24.
Parsi 2012, p. 153.
- 25.
S.C. Res. 1696(2006), preamble, U.N. Doc. S/RES/1696 (31 July 2006) (citing Article 40 of the UN Charter).
- 26.
U.N. Security Council, Department of Public Information, Security Council Demands Iran Suspend Uranium Enrichment by 31 August or Face Possible Economic, Diplomatic Sanctions, U.N. Doc. SC/ 8792 (31 July 2006).
- 27.
Robert Tait, Iran Tries to Split UN as it Rejects Nuclear Demands, the Guardian, 22 August 2006.
- 28.
Leverett and Leverett 2013, p. 40.
- 29.
S.C. Res. 1737(2006), U.N. Doc. S/RES/1737 (23 December 2006); S.C. Res. 1803(2008), U.N. Doc. S/RES/1803 (3 March 2008).
- 30.
S.C. Res. 1737(2006), paras 7, 12, U.N. Doc. S/RES/1737 (23 December 2006).
- 31.
Bâli 2012.
- 32.
S.C. Res. 1696(2006), preamble, U.N. Doc. S/RES/1696 (31 July 2006).
- 33.
Bâli 2012.
- 34.
Joyner 2012, p. 248.
- 35.
See IAEA Board of Governors, Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolutions 1737(2006), 1747(2007), 1803(2008), and 1835(2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Report by the Director General, Doc. GOV/2009/74 (16 November 2009).
- 36.
IAEA Board of Governors, Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolutions 1737(2006), 1747(2007), 1803(2008), and 1835(2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Resolution, Doc. GOV/2009/82 (27 November 2009).
- 37.
Moshirzadeh 2007, p. 523.
- 38.
Moshirzadeh 2007, p. 523.
- 39.
Alam 2000, pp. 1631–1632.
- 40.
Richter and Barnea 2009, p. 45.
- 41.
Sadjadpour 2009, p. 11.
- 42.
See Rouhani Says Nuclear Deal with West Allows Iran to Enrich Uranium, Jerusalem Post, 24 November 2013; NPT, Article 4, 1 July 1968, 29 U.N.T.S. 161 (preserving the right of States “to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”).
- 43.
Ustun 2010, p. 21.
- 44.
Joint Declaration by Iran, Turkey and Brazil, Tehran (17 May 2010) available at http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/joint-decl.pdf.
- 45.
IAEA Board of Governors, Implementation of the NPT Standards Agreement and Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolutions in the Islamic, Report by the Director General, Doc. GOV/2011/63 (8 November 2011).
- 46.
Iran Nuclear Rights Not Negotiable, Ahmadinejad Says, BBC News Middle East, 10 November 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11724424.
- 47.
It is not clear whether this fatwa really exists as no original source for it has been found. Yet there are many references to the fatwa. See e.g., Arms Control and Regional Security for the Middle East, Do Not Misunderstand Khamenei’s Nuclear Fatwa, 28 February 2013, http://www.middleeast-armscontrol.com/2013/02/28/dont-misunderstand-khameneis-nuclear-fatwa; Glenn Kessler, Fact Checker: Did Iran’s Supreme Leader Issue a Fatwa against the Development of Nuclear Weapons? Washington Post, 27 November 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2013/11/27/did-irans-supreme-leader-issue-a-fatwa-against-the-development-of-nuclear-weapons/.
- 48.
Arms Control Association, History of Official Proposals on the Iranian Nuclear Issue, January 2014, http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Iran_Nuclear_Proposals (accessed 11 June 2014).
- 49.
Idem.
- 50.
Idem.
- 51.
Joint Plan of Action, Geneva (24 November 2013) available at http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2013/131124_03_en.pdf.
- 52.
Idem.
- 53.
Idem.
- 54.
Albright and Walrond 2013, p. 2.
- 55.
- 56.
Alam 2000, p. 1644.
- 57.
The author was in Tehran for 6 months from early April to mid-September 2001. One week before 11 September 2001, all Iranian newspapers focused on the news of the assassination of General Masoud. Newspapers reported this incident as the top security problem for Iran. During the week of 11–18 September 2001, there were many news programs about the future of Afghanistan.
- 58.
See Milani 2009, “Full Engagement.”
- 59.
Katzman 2007, p. 5.
- 60.
Interview with a policymaker, Director of Middle East Center, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran (6 August 2007); see also Blanchard et al. 2009, pp. 10–11.
- 61.
Leila Fadel, Iranian General Played Key Role in Iraq Ceasefire, McClatchy Newspapers, 30 March 2008, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/03/30/32055/iranian-general-played-key-role.html.
- 62.
Katzman 2009.
- 63.
Holliday 2012, p. 19.
- 64.
Shabaneh 2013.
- 65.
Annan Praises Iran’s ‘Good Solutions to Syrian Crisis,’ Fars News Agency, 29 January 2014, http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13921109001272.
- 66.
Fulton et al. 2013.
- 67.
‘Real’ US-trained al-Qaeda ‘to wage war on US,’ Press TV, 11 December 2013, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/11/339353/real-alqaeda-to-wage-war-on-us/.
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Nakanishi, H. (2015). The Construction of the Sanctions Regime Against Iran: Political Dimensions of Unilateralism. In: Marossi, A., Bassett, M. (eds) Economic Sanctions under International Law. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-051-0_2
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