US sanctions Iranian Guardian Council members

On Thursday 20 February, the US Treasury Department announced mostly symbolic sanctions on members of Iran’s Guardian Council with only hours to go till Friday's parliamentary elections in Iran.

Iran PressAmerica: The sanctioned officials include Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, secretary of Iran’s Guardian Council, and Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a senior member of the council.

Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, Siamak Rahpeyk, and Mohammad Hassan Sadeghi Moghadam, three legal experts on the council’s Central Committee for Election Supervision, are also being sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.

Donald Trump's policy of maximum pressure against Iran was adopted after the United States withdrew from the landmark multilateral nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018. These latest sanctions seem to be a direct attempt by Washington to interfere in Iran's parliamentary elections, and internal affairs. The timing of the sanctions on Thursday 20 February, with only a few hours to go till the start of parliamentary elections in Iran is also noteworthy.   

Washington has attacked and criticized Iran's Guardian Council many times in recent weeks with the aim of discouraging Iranians from taking part in parliamentary elections and putting a question mark over the elections.

Donald Trump has tried to raise doubts and question Iran's parliamentary elections at a time when he himself is under fire for his own 2016 presidential campaign and alleged contacts and collusion with the Russians. The Democrats have questioned how Donald Trump managed to clinch the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2016, and there are also question marks over his conduct during the presidential campaign, his attacks on his Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and his shadowy connections and contacts with the Kremlin.

The United States has conducted a very hostile campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. All US Presidents have been hostile towards the Islamic Republic, but the current president, Donald Trump, is particularly vehement and vitriolic in his anti-Iran rhetoric and anti-Iran policies.

Trump has adopted a policy of economic terrorism against Iran, imposing tough stringent sanctions with the aim of weakening Iran's economy and pressuring the Iranian people. He has also used every opportunity to directly interfere in Iran's internal politics, and to directly interfere in the parliamentary elections in Iran.

However, virtually all analysts believe that Trump will be no more successful than his predecessors, and his policies will go the same way as the policies pursued by his predecessors -- a total failure.

Writer: Seyyed Reza Mir Taher

Translator: Mehran Derakhshandeh

211

Read More:

US sanctions 5 top Iranian officials ahead of elections

February 11, a day for demonstrating national unity, solidarity

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces: We will strengthen our defensive capabilities

Commentary: Will Lebanon's new government be able to satisfy the demands of the demonstrators ?