Do Not Abuse the Abused

An entire generation of people in Iran have been born and had children under sanctions imposed by the United States. The most recent ones block nearly every single Iranian bank from making international transactions.

These most recent sanctions on Iran’s financial sector mean that international banking is practically impossible. What it means for the government of Iran itself is convenient cover for their own mismanagement and cruel policies.  The sanctions, which are barely understood even by experts, have given the Iranian power elite authority over the economy. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls access to the market. This leaves workers impoverished and unpaid. Ethnic and religious minorities, most women, and LGBTQ people are further marginalized and made vulnerable because of economic need.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has had more than forty years of experience using US sanctions to deflect from responsible governance. They are masters at sleight of hand.

The United States says the sanctions on Iran’s financial sector are strategically designed to force Iran to give up its nuclear program. Humanitarian items, they say, can still be purchased. But how? And by whom?

A near-complete ban on international banking is convenient for the regime in Iran. You don’t believe us? Ask yourself why the Iranian state actors have complained about sanctions without offering evidence about their impact? Why? Because they have four decades of experience learning how to use them to control the population.

And now, sanctions can be used as a reason for shortages of medications and other humanitarian goods. Meanwhile, the elite members of the regime barely notice a difference. They’re eating gold-laced desserts and stockpiling medical supplies. All while imprisoning people like the truly great lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and many other prisoners of conscious. All while forcing false confessions and torturing and executing young men and women for daring to take a stand against their oppression.

These new sanctions are simply about punishing the people of Iran. The New York Times writes:

“The list of new financial pariahs includes Bank Maskan, which specializes in mortgages, and Bank Keshavarzi Iran, which lends to farmers. This sweepingly broad application of sanctions amounts to collective punishment for tens of millions of innocent Iranians who are already suffering under a brutally repressive regime.”

Do you know who else suffers? The Iranian diaspora worldwide. Anyone with an Iranian sounding name may have their accounts frozen and investigated, no matter where they live and what citizenship they have.

Our experience shows that small transactions are most likely to be investigated and blocked. The people involved have the least power. The money that gets frozen is the small amounts needed for safety, food, and shelter. No one is buying military equipment or luxury goods with it.

Fatimah (Iran) told Arseh Sevom:

“We are overwhelmed by the stress. We worry about politics, finances, health and the future. All of us. Children and adults.

“The sanctions aren’t just impacting us economically, they are isolating us. Obviously, we are isolated internationally, but we are also isolated from each other. We have become shadows. Anxious, without a sense of self.

“Everyone in Iran is suffering from depression and anxiety, and we don’t have enough therapists to go around.”

Hashem (Iran) says:

“If America thinks the sanctions will bring us to the street, they are mistaken. We no longer have the soul for it.”

We ask hard-working human rights defenders everywhere to speak out against the sanctions. Freeze the accounts of torturers and executioners. Freeze the accounts of the enablers of oppression. Sanction the activities of those in power.

Don’t abuse the abused.

Whose rights are we defending if we don’t?