The sanctions war on Iran continues despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Time for the US to put humanity above petty grievances.

A chance for Trump to show he has a human side

You probably meant to say, it would be time for the U.S. to find a humane response to Iran's well-warranted grievances, no?

Yeah, fat chance.

Keep our grievances out of it.

Drop sanctions on medical aid

Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from sanctions that Washington reimposed last year after President Donald Trump walked away from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program.

How US sanctions hinder Iranians’ access to medicine - Atlantic Council

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Iran declared war in us in 1979.

It seems to me it was the U.S. CIA that "declared war on Iran" first -- in 1953. For oil.

At the time the CIA man on the spot, Kermit Roosevelt, worked with thugs and even Islamic reactionaries to overthrow the famous old nationalist politician Mossadegh. I'm certainly no supporter of the theocratic state there. In many ways even the bloody Shah was better. But that was not how the Iranian people saw things at the time of the Khomeini Revolution. Those radical anti-Shah and anti-U.S. students who held U.S. diplomats during the first year of the Khomeini Revolution were hurting their own cause. It is certainly true that the U.S. Embassy there was filled with CIA men who worked closely with SAVAK (the secret police of the Shah). Fortunately, all U.S. embassy personnel including the CIA men and soldiers were eventually released.

The U.S. then backed Saddam Hussein in a long and bloody war against Iran, even as he used poison gas against them. This only strengthened Khomeini and the theocratic regime, but killed perhaps a million people. Our bloody-mindedness, our "revenge" for being humiliated in 1979, our sanctions against the Iranian people and regime, and its hostility to us ... goes far back.

That regime is weak but still unified, and a decision now ending sanctions and providing medical assistance would be a very smart political move that would re-open cracks in its dictatorship. It would deeply appeal to and be appreciated by the Iranian people. Trump needs to negotiate with the regime, if he is ever to end "the endless wars" in the Middle East. If we do nothing, the Chinese will gain all the credit for their own assistance.

[Texas oil lobbyists and Gulf feudal monarchies desperately wanted to keep up the world price of oil. To protect our credit-financed expensive-to-produce domestic oil industry powerful lobbyists pushed sanctions against Iran, Russia (Nordstream2), Syria, earlier Libya and Iraq and Venezuela. Now our domestic producers are going bankrupt anyway, and our whole strategy of sanctions in the Middle East can be re-figured.]

It was Trump himself (backed by Republicans and Democratic Warhawks and Zionists) that unilaterally tore up the international agreements with Iran and re-imposed sanctions. This is an opportunity to gracefully extricate the U.S. from that dangerous mistake.

 

[AzogtheDefiler]

....they still would've been shit heads in a shithole country if that didn't happen ..and the Iranians wanted to more or less steal everything the US and Britain built up in Iran....

LMFAO
You mean they wanted to keep their own oil ?
The audacity !

It’s the Jews fault. Say it. Don’t be a pussy, Angelo. You know you want to but don’t have the guts.

It's your fault ya dirty fuckin ****!

Its my fault Iran is suffering? Fair enough. Cool.

 

[Olde Europe]

Keep our grievances out of it.

Drop sanctions on medical aid

What grievances would that be?

There are officially no sanctions on "medical aid". Coyote posted a link upstream to explain that. There are just sanctions on trade and financial transfers that, as a consequence, make buying medical supplies or precursor ingredients almost perfectly impossible.

 

[the other mike]

Don’t be a pussy, Angelo. You know you want to but don’t have the guts.

You must see terrorists everywhere you look.

 

[Tijn Von Ingersleben]

Don’t be a pussy, Angelo. You know you want to but don’t have the guts.

You must see terrorists everywhere you look.

Wrong guy bro...the **** said that...not me.

 

[the other mike]

Don’t be a pussy, Angelo. You know you want to but don’t have the guts.

You must see terrorists everywhere you look.

Wrong guy bro...the **** said that...not me.

Sorry. I fixed it.

 

[the other mike]

Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from sanctions that Washington reimposed last year after President Donald Trump walked away from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program.

How US sanctions hinder Iranians’ access to medicine - Atlantic Council

Good article.

[Compared to military means, economic sanctions aim to be a more peaceful instrument of foreign policy. However, by examining the case of comprehensive sanctions on Iran, it is clear that sanctions have adverse consequences that collectively punish the population of the targeted state, by depriving them of one of the most basic human rights: access to adequate medicine.

The Trump administration prides itself in siding with the Iranian people in their struggle for freedom and democracy. However, not only has the administration not taken a meaningful step to ensure that the population is not impacted by unilateral sanctions, it has openly worked to undermine Europe’s attempts to establish a reliable channel for humanitarian trade with Iran. Furthermore, by prosecuting financial institutions for dealing with Iran, it has created an environment that no entity is willing to process humanitarian transactions. Perhaps, one way to show support for the Iranian people is to first ensure that they have adequate and affordable access to medicine.]

 

[HenryBHough]

There would be no virus in Iran had Carter nuked it into a sea of glass when he should have.

 

[the other mike]

There would be no virus in Iran had Carter nuked it into a sea of glass when he should have.

Young Donald Trump agrees with you.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

Iran declared war in us in 1979.

It seems to me it was the U.S. CIA that "declared war on Iran" first -- in 1953. For oil.

At the time the CIA man on the spot, Kermit Roosevelt, worked with thugs and even Islamic reactionaries to overthrow the famous old nationalist politician Mossadegh. I'm certainly no supporter of the theocratic state there. In many ways even the bloody Shah was better. But that was not how the Iranian people saw things at the time of the Khomeini Revolution. Those radical anti-Shah and anti-U.S. students who held U.S. diplomats during the first year of the Khomeini Revolution were hurting their own cause. It is certainly true that the U.S. Embassy there was filled with CIA men who worked closely with SAVAK (the secret police of the Shah). Fortunately, all U.S. embassy personnel including the CIA men and soldiers were eventually released.

The U.S. then backed Saddam Hussein in a long and bloody war against Iran, even as he used poison gas against them. This only strengthened Khomeini and the theocratic regime, but killed perhaps a million people. Our bloody-mindedness, our "revenge" for being humiliated in 1979, our sanctions against the Iranian people and regime, and its hostility to us ... goes far back.

That regime is weak but still unified, and a decision now ending sanctions and providing medical assistance would be a very smart political move that would re-open cracks in its dictatorship. It would deeply appeal to and be appreciated by the Iranian people. Trump needs to negotiate with the regime, if he is ever to end "the endless wars" in the Middle East. If we do nothing, the Chinese will gain all the credit for their own assistance.

[Texas oil lobbyists and Gulf feudal monarchies desperately wanted to keep up the world price of oil. To protect our credit-financed expensive-to-produce domestic oil industry powerful lobbyists pushed sanctions against Iran, Russia (Nordstream2), Syria, earlier Libya and Iraq and Venezuela. Now our domestic producers are going bankrupt anyway, and our whole strategy of sanctions in the Middle East can be re-figured.]

It was Trump himself (backed by Republicans and Democratic Warhawks and Zionists) that unilaterally tore up the international agreements with Iran and re-imposed sanctions. This is an opportunity to gracefully extricate the U.S. from that dangerous mistake.

The Islamic Revolution in Iran has produced nothing but trouble for their nation and global stability.

Obama's agreement was laughable. There was no treaty. In terms of the United States, the agreement was with him and him alone. The fact that military sites in Iran were prohibited to inspectors rendered said agreement worthless.

Ending sanctions would serve only to buy them time. I would increase sanctions by three, were it my call.

 

[the other mike]

The Islamic Revolution in Iran has produced nothing but trouble for their nation and global stability.

Obama's agreement was laughable. There was no treaty. In terms of the United States, the agreement was with him and him alone. The fact that military sites in Iran were prohibited to inspectors rendered said agreement worthless.

Ending sanctions would serve only to buy them time. I would increase sanctions by three, were it my call.

They fed us the same shit about Iraq.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-25-na-leak25-story.html

https://www.iraqbodycount.org/

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19547603/iraq-15-years-george-bush/

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

The Islamic Revolution in Iran has produced nothing but trouble for their nation and global stability.

Obama's agreement was laughable. There was no treaty. In terms of the United States, the agreement was with him and him alone. The fact that military sites in Iran were prohibited to inspectors rendered said agreement worthless.

Ending sanctions would serve only to buy them time. I would increase sanctions by three, were it my call.

They fed us the same shit about Iraq.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-25-na-leak25-story.html

https://www.iraqbodycount.org/

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19547603/iraq-15-years-george-bush/

Iraq is not Iran.

Is this chicken soup?

"The fact that military sites in Iran were prohibited to inspectors rendered said agreement worthless."

 

[the other mike]

 

[the other mike]

Iraq is not Iran.

Is this chicken soup?

"The fact that military sites in Iran were prohibited to inspectors rendered said agreement worthless."

The chicken in the soup.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

Wesley Clark was a blown gasket.

 

[the other mike]

Wesley Clark was a blown gasket.

A conspiracy theorist like General Flynn and Rudy G right ?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Wes is a whiney twat.

So, Iran with nukes is cool with you?

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

President Trump campaigned on a program of ending wars in the Middle East, yet he surrounded himself with warmongers. Bolton is now blessedly gone, but "Christian Zionist" Pompeo remains. Pence is another Christian Zionist warmonger, and the Secretsry of Defense is a former Raytheon CEO who quite directly represents the military-industrial complex. Gulf oil money and AIPAC lobbyists control Congress (and virtually all mainstream Democrats) and the media have warped the thinking of ordinary Americans.

Trump is virtually a prisoner of these lobbies, and of his own desire to look tough. We have twice as many troops today in the Middle East as we had when Obama left office. Obama was no pacifist or anti-imperialist, having stupidly "surged" in Afghanistan. But at least he understood the U.S. needed a rational foreign policy, and that it not be controlled by AIPAC. He tried to move to a slightly more balanced position between Sunni Saudi Arabia, which supported Wahhabi fanaticism and ISIS terrorists (outside their own borders) and Shia Iran, which was not then carrying out attacks on Americans, or encouraging such attacks in neighboring Iraq (ever since the U.S. allowed for Iraqi elections and pulled our troops out of the Shia cities in the South).

Lots of complexities here. No "good guys vs bad guys" in the Middle East, as simpleminded people think. Our best policy is let them all produce oil, encourage different actors to compete peaceably, in a world market where foreign nations are all allowed in as customers or investors, so the price of oil will be lower and more free enterprise has a chance to develop.

Bottom line: the U.S. has followed and is now again following utterly destructive policies in the region, encouraging civil wars, Balkanizing or destroying countries not under our control.

 

[Olde Europe]

President Trump campaigned on a program of ending wars in the Middle East, yet he surrounded himself with warmongers. Bolton is now blessedly gone, but "Christian Zionist" Pompeo remains. Pence is another Christian Zionist warmonger, and the Secretsry of Defense is a former Raytheon CEO who quite directly represents the military-industrial complex. Gulf oil money and AIPAC lobbyists control Congress (and virtually all mainstream Democrats) and the media have warped the thinking of ordinary Americans.

Trump is virtually a prisoner of these lobbies, and of his own desire to look tough. We have twice as many troops today in the Middle East as we had when Obama left office. Obama was no pacifist or anti-imperialist, having stupidly "surged" in Afghanistan. But at least he understood the U.S. needed a rational foreign policy, and that it not be controlled by AIPAC. He tried to move to a slightly more balanced position between Sunni Saudi Arabia, which supported Wahhabi fanaticism and ISIS terrorists (outside their own borders) and Shia Iran, which was not then carrying out attacks on Americans, or encouraging such attacks in neighboring Iraq (ever since the U.S. allowed for Iraqi elections and pulled our troops out of the Shia cities in the South).

Lots of complexities here. No "good guys vs bad guys" in the Middle East, as simpleminded people think. Our best policy is let them all produce oil, encourage different actors to compete peaceably, in a world market where foreign nations are all allowed in as customers or investors, so the price of oil will be lower and more free enterprise has a chance to develop.

Bottom line: the U.S. has followed and is now again following utterly destructive policies in the region, encouraging civil wars, Balkanizing or destroying countries not under our control.

There is quite a bit food for thought in the above, some I agree with, other not so much. Just one thing I think you should take care of in there: "But at least he understood the U.S. needed a rational foreign policy, and that it not be controlled by AIPAC."

While I agree AIPAC is a largely a malign influence, a foreign policy "controlled by AIPAC" is a serious overstatement, and I find you are missing the larger point. AIPAC is currently NOT the main problem - rather, the destruction of the inter-agency process previously set up so that foreign policy decisions be guided by the best insight gathered from all involved institutions, is. If anything truly new AND catastrophic came out during the investigation into the Ukraine thing surrounding Trump and Giuliani, it was that foreign policy is being made from the hip, at the Dear Leader's whim, using outside channels, and folks usually consulted and heard inquiring for months as to the goings-on, trying to find out what decisions were being made, and by whom and on what grounds. So, that's not "controlled by AIPAC", that is chaos. Chaos, presided over by an incompetent, to-the-bones corrupt, self-serving nitwit who doesn't know anything about anything, and who thinks being elected president entitles him to personal ownership of the federal government.