By Stephen Lendman
Since Iranians ended a generation of CIA-installed fascist dictatorship in 1979, the US has been at war on the Islamic Republic by other means.
The Trump regime escalated it way beyond where its predecessors went, risking confrontation by accident or design.
While US war on Iran is unlikely because of the IRGC’s military capabilities that could hit back hard against regional Pentagon bases and Israel if attacked, what’s unthinkable is possible because of US rage to transform all sovereign independent nations into vassal states it controls.
Cracks in Trump regime sanctions on Iran exist because Russia, China, and other countries maintain friendly diplomatic relations.
They show up in Iranian exports. Last week, Press TV reported that Tehran exported “around $60 billion (worth) of products, services, and energy since the” Trump regime began stiffening illegal sanctions in spring 2018.
According to Iran’s trade ministry, Iran shipped 135 million metric tons of non-crude goods to other countries since Trump abandoned the JCPOA.
Year-over-year to today, Iranian sponge iron exports increased by 86%.
Shifting from heavy dependence on petroleum exports at a time of Trump regime sanctions, and now rock-bottom oil prices, enabled Tehran to develop export markets for other goods, including petrochemicals, metals, raw materials, food and other products.
In January, Iran estimated its year-over-year steel exports through March would be around 10 million tons, yielding up to $5 billion in revenue.
On Sunday, data from Iran showed steel exports increased by over 25% in the past year through March 19.
Through late March 2020, Iran exported about $32 billion worth of non-oil goods.
Tehran’s deputy industry minister Hossein Modares Khiabani called its achievement “a miracle in the current economic situation of the country.”
In early April, head of the Iran/Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Yahya Al Eshaq said the Islamic Republic aims to export a record $20 billion of goods to neighboring Iraq in a few years, its second largest foreign market after China.
Iraq relies on Iran for food, natural gas, electricity and construction materials. China is the largest importer of Iranian oil.
Iran’s ability to persevere in the face of Trump regime “maximum pressure” is a tribute to its ingenuity, peace agenda, and cooperative relations with other countries.
For over 40 years, its ruling authorities withstood efforts by the US to return the country to subservient client state status — including everything thrown at it by the Trump regime.
Over the weekend, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed that the Islamic Republic will “never” initiate conflict against another nation.
It’ll retaliate strongly against an aggressor if attacked, its legal right under international law.
The US remains its main threat, followed by Israel.
According to a Sunday Tribune News Service report, the Pentagon is boosting the presence of its AC-130 gunships and Apache attack helicopters in the Persian Gulf — a provocative action, along with the perpetual presence of US warships in Persian Gulf waters.
Days earlier, Trump belligerently “instructed the (US) navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”
Iranian vessels harass no one. They patrol offshore waters, defending the nation’s territory from possible hostile actions from an aggressor like the US and Israel.
Trump’s war secretary Esper threatened Iran, saying “they need to be well-warned” — a hostile remark against the region’s leading proponent of peace and stability.
Moscow expressed concern about hostile US anti-Iran threats, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov saying the following:
“This is one of the methods that create uncertainty in the international community.”
“This is a deliberate desire to sow discord among members of the international community, given that different countries interpret the relevant provisions of international law differently.”
“This is one of the elements of US policy that is aimed at continuing to play on the nerves.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zaif slammed the hostile presence of US forces “7,000 miles away from home” where they don’t belong, an unacceptable provocation.
Reportedly, Pompeo is set to defy reality by claiming the Trump regime never abandoned the JCPOA.
Maintaining the fiction that it remains a “participant state” aims to use the status it does not have to try maintaining a UN arms embargo on Iran via a Security Council resolution or threats of sanctions on nations selling conventional arms to the Islamic Republic.
The UN arms embargo expires in October. The Trump regime wants it remaining in place, Pompeo saying:
“We cannot allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to purchase conventional weapons in six months.”
“We are prepared to exercise all of our diplomatic options to ensure the arms embargo stays in place at the UN Security Council.”
The Trump regime drafted a Security Council resolution on this issue, Russia and China able to veto what they consider unacceptable.
By falsely claiming the US remains a JCPOA signatory, the Trump regime aims to enforce continuation of the anti-Iran arms embargo even if its Security Council resolution isn’t adopted.
Over the weekend, Pompeo falsely claimed “Iran’s space program is neither peaceful nor entirely civilian (sic),” adding:
Its “satellite launch vehicle and others launched before it incorporate technologies identical to, and interchangeable with, ICBM ballistic missiles.”
“No country has ever pursued an ICBM capability except for the purpose of delivering nuclear weapons (sic).”
Pompeo failed to explain that repeated IAEA inspections showed and continue to show that Iran’s legitimate nuclear program has no military component.
According to the Arms Control Association, ICBMs are weapons able to travel over 5,500 km.
Iran has none in its arsenal, its longest-range BM-25/Musudan ballistic missile able to travel a distance of about 2,500 km.
All Iranian missiles are designed to carry conventional warheads alone.
They’re for defense, not offense. Iran is at peace with its neighbors, polar opposite how the US, NATO and Israel operate.
Time and again, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism the Unites States accuses other nations for its high crimes against them, notably Iran.
Its ruling authorities are committed to regional peace and stability in contrast to US war on humanity worldwide.
Stephen Lendman, born in 1934 in Boston, started writing on major world and national issues began in summer 2005. In early 2007, radio hosting followed. Lendman now hosts the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network three times weekly. Distinguished guests are featured. Listen live or archived. Major world and national issues are discussed. Lendman is a 2008 Project Censored winner and 2011 Mexican Journalists Club international journalism award recipient.
Lendman’s newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
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