Let’s talk about US sanctions on Iran
because the US president 
keeps piling them on.
Powerful sanctions will 
go into full effect.
but Iran isn’t bowing.
Now, according to this online tracker
America has more 
sanctions against Iran
than it does on North Korea, Cuba
Venezuela and Libya combined.
So what exactly are 
those sanctions
and more importantly, 
are they working?
The big picture is this:
the US and Iran are, 
in a way, at war.
States like these and 
their terrorist allies
constitute an axis of evil. 
But they don’t fight
 face to face
Instead, they antagonise
 each other.
Iran gets involved in conflicts 
around the Middle East 
by backing armed groups 
and US rivals like Russia.
And the US's main weapon?
Sanctions.
Now the simple definition 
of a sanction is:
“an official order, taken 
against a country 
in order to make it obey
international law.”
That could include bans on travel, transactions or trade.
And in Iran’s case, 
it’s all of those.
Any kind of exchange 
that directly or indirectly 
might benefit the Iranian 
government or any agency of it
or any individual who may 
directly or indirectly be
affiliated with it is prohibited 
under American law.
Now we’ve read the US Treasury’s blacklist for Iran 
and it is long.
The big ones are: a ban on Iran’s biggest industry
which is oil
and a ban on any kind of financial transactions with Iran.
Plus its entire steel, mining, 
coal sectors 
dozens of individual people and ministries in Iran’s government
banks, insurance, 
construction companies
ships and aircraft.
There’s even a ban 
on Persian carpets
one of Iran’s 
biggest exports
and its pistachio industry.
Now, the penalties for violating those sanctions are serious.
The US government can fine a person or company up to $1 million
or hand down a 20 year
jail sentence.
Even if they’re not American.
Because the US has 
such a strong dollar
and so many transactions are conducted in dollars
it means that US sanctions
would affect any EU company doing business with Iran.
Between having sanctions on
 its main industries
and being blocked from trading 
with other countries
Iran has become one of the most isolated economies in the world.
So when did this sanctions 
war start?
More than 40 years ago.
The US long supported Iran’s 
monarch the Shah
but in 1979, the Islamic 
Revolution swept
cleric Ayatollah Khomeini 
to power.
A group of Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy
and imprisoned its staff 
for over a year.
That led to the very first round 
of sanctions on Iran
with the US freezing billions of dollars in Iranian government assets.
and it was just the beginning.
Over the next several decades, 
Iran came under more 
international sanctions over  
human rights abuses.
Iran was also sanctioned for 
sending billions of dollars 
to armed groups in the Middle East
like Hezbollah in Lebanon, or 
Hamas in Palestine.
But it was Iran’s decision to 
develop nuclear power
that really got the US worried
because Iran now had the tools 
to build a nuclear bomb.
Since 2003, a nuclear crisis has been brewing between Iran
the United States and 
its European allies 
when it was revealed that 
Iran has two nuclear
facilities that it did 
not declare to the IAEA.
So in 2011, the US together 
with the UN issued
a massive heap of economic 
sanctions on Iran
to (a) stop any money flowing to 
its nuclear programme
and (b) to pressure Iran into potentially striking a diplomatic deal.
And that part worked.
In 2015, after long and tough negotiations, a deal known as
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed.
“A historic deal.”
“The landmark nuclear agreement 
will mean that Iran
has to sharply curtail its 
nuclear programme.”
“The Iranian foreign minister receives a hero’s welcome back in Tehran.
International sanctions against Iran 
will now be lifted.” 
We've achieved this historic 
progress through diplomacy 
without resorting to another war 
in the Middle East.
But the truth is that many 
US lawmakers
Republicans in particular
didn’t trust Iran would keep 
its end of the deal.
Neither did one of America’s 
closest allies.
Iran's rulers promised to 
destroy my country.
Murder my people.
Perhaps you can now
 understand why Israel  
is not joining you in 
celebrating this deal.
So as soon as Donald Trump became president, he backed out.
I am announcing today that 
the United States 
will withdraw from the Iran 
nuclear deal.
All the old sanctions came back.
And more than 700 new ones 
were issued against  
Iranian individuals and companies.
It’s what the Trump administration 
calls its “maximum 
pressure campaign."
So when people ask: 
has the US sanctions programme 
worked on Iran? 
Well, that’s debatable. 
These new sanctions have nearly killed the entire Iran nuclear deal.
And in response, the
 Iranians have said:
Well, what’s the point of us 
holding up our end?
So they’ve now restarted some low-level nuclear activity.
And they will probably continue to do so until the EU takes action
to deliver on some of their commitments 
which they are not able to deliver because of US pressure. 
The eventual outcome could be
an Iran withdrawal  
from the nuclear accord and also the death of the whole deal.
Sanctions have managed to
 cripple Iran’s economy.
But Iranians are getting
 around them.
“Human mules have 
carried smuggled 
goods across the 
border for years.
Electronics, phones, 
beauty products
medicines, cigarettes, 
the list goes on.”
Long years of sanctions have led the Iranians to develop many
of their own domestic products inside that have substituted
for those things that they 
can’t bring in.
When sanctions come,
there’s a dip. 
And then, somehow, the 
economy starts reacting 
and responding 
and compensating 
and within three or four years,
it’s back to growth.
Another question is whether 
Iran’s government
can survive many more
years of instability.
Don’t get me wrong, it still has
 a lot of support.
But recent protests across
 Iranian cities have 
exposed some discontent with 
those in power.
“Anger, frustration and growing concern in Tehran.”
The protests erupted after 
Iran’s government
which has been strapped
 for cash
increased the price of fuel
to raise funds.
In November, thousands of 
people were arrested
rights groups say more 
than 300 were killed
and at one point, there was a
 total internet shutdown.
Iran’s leaders say they were 
responding to a bigger threat.
The bottom line is: it’s not clear whether the US’s huge web of sanctions 
is going to lead to any kind of breakthrough with Iran.
And there’s a whole debate about whether those pressure tactics
have ever forced any big changes in places like Cuba or North Korea 
where sanctions have been 
around for decades.
Those who defend sanctions say the alternative is an actual war.
But neither the US nor Iran, nor anybody else seem to want that.
