Sanctions help, not hurt, Iran’s people

Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian regime received tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief, plus the promise of new business from a variety of Western companies. Some people see this as a triumph of diplomacy which will improve the lives of the Iranian people, and engender good will. A common argument against economic sanctions is that that the private sector and a nation’s citizenry shThe council’s report points out that Mahan Air is by no means alone. Untold numbers of companies, from multitudes of industries, are generating profits for the IRGC at the expense of the Iranian people.

Whatever one might think about economic sanctions in general, the composition of the Iranian economy makes them not only well-advised but absolutely necessary to separating the repressive government from its people.

As such, President Trump’s moves to designate the IRGC as a terrorist sponsor and expand sanctions are steps in the right direction. But the U.S. and its partners must go further by isolating the Iranian regime from the global banking system and promoting alternative, democratic state structures like that which the NCRI offers. Only under an entirely different political system can the people of Iran end the plunder of their wealth.

Tim Ghaemi, of Denver, is the Chairman of Colorado’s Iranian American Community, a member of the Organization of Iranian American Communities.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.ould not suffer as a result of the actions of the government.

The problem with this argument as it applies to Iran’s ruling theocracy is that there effectively is no private sector in Iran. In reality, the regime’s “privatization scheme” to create the appearance of a growing private sector primarily entails the transfer of state assets into the hands of a quasi- private sector comprised of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a variety of its front companies and affiliates.

A closer look confirms that life has not improved for the Iranian people as a result of sanctions relief. They are suffering the same rampant unemployment, and they are still being brutally repressed by hardline institutions including the IRGC. In fact, the Islamic Republic is in the midst of an ever-escalating crackdown on activists, journalists, dual nationals, and anyone deemed to be a threat to the theocratic system.

There are two main reasons for the worsening domestic security situation. One is that the IRGC, Intelligence Ministry, and other agencies want to stamp out any sense of broader rapprochement between Iran and its traditional adversaries. The other is that the suspension of economic sanctions has to a great extent functioned as a payout to the IRGC through its front companies. Estimates of its wealth range from 20 percent to well over half of the entire Iranian gross domestic product.

Given that fact, it is virtually impossible for the Iranian “private sector” to be isolated from the IRGC. Western businesses cannot be confident in their ability to recognize which transactions will and will not make their way back to the IRGC, or its terrorist Quds Force, or any of the organization’s functionaries who are already under sanction in the U.S. and Europe for human rights violations and support of international terrorism.

Thankfully, President Trump seems to understand this. On October 31, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against a number of IRGC commanders and affiliates. Mr. Trump described the motives behind the new sanctions in a speech announcing the start of a new strategy for confronting Iran’s malign influence in the Middle East. The IRGC, he said, “has hijacked large portions of Iran’s economy and seized massive religious endowments to fund war and terror abroad.”

Maryam Rajavi, the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) underscored this observation. While the Iranian government has been funneling money, weapons, and fighters to Syria to salvage the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, the people of Iran have been risking arrest and torture in protests, demanding, “Forget about Syria! Think about us!”

Sanctions relief will not help them. In fact, a policy of appeasement will only perpetuate their suffering, and provide Iran with the means to further its regional aggression, thereby worsening the suffering of various other peoples.

The NCRI recently released a report detailing some of the mechanisms for this regional aggression. It focused on the ownership structure and history of Mahan Air Corp., the largest Iranian airline and a prime example of the regime’s tendency to rely on companies that are privately owned in name only. Mahan has been systemically used to ferry weapons and fighters between Iran and Syria. More than merely cooperating with the IRGC and the Quds Force, it is wholly owned and controlled by them.