Sanctions reimposed on Iran over nuclear programme

Iran prepared on Sunday for a possible confrontation with the West after the United Nations reimposed sanctions over its nuclear programme, even as some pushed for continued negotiations to ease the economic pain squeezing the country.

The sanctions imposed before dawn on Sunday again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalise any development of Iran’s ballistic missile programme, among other measures. It came via a mechanism known as “snapback,” included in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran’s Parliament briefly denounced the sanctions before going into a closed-door session likely to discuss the country’s response, which could include abandoning the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and rushing for the bomb.

People worry about a new round of fighting between Iran and Israel, as well as potentially the United States, as missile sites struck during the 12-day war in June now appear to be being rebuilt.

Meanwhile, Iran’s rial currency fell to a new record low of 1.1 million to $1, sending food prices even higher and making daily life that much more challenging.

Iranian women walk in Tehran on Sunday. Agence France-Presse

“The government must negotiate. This is a world of business,” said Mohsen Rahaei, a 49-year-old Tehran resident. “One must get along with everyone, with all countries. Until when we want to fight? We won’t gain anything.”

Iran tried a last-ditch diplomatic push at the UN General Assembly in New York this week, but efforts by its officials, as well as China and Russia, failed to stop the sanctions.

Speaking to the Young Journalists Club, which is affiliated with Iranian state television, lawmaker Ismail Kowsari said Parliament would discuss withdrawing from the nuclear treaty.

Nonproliferation experts fear such a move could see Iran follow a path first laid down by North Korea, which said it abandoned the treaty before obtaining nuclear weapons.

Kowsari however said it wouldn’t mean Iran would go for the bomb. Such a move would need the approval of Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian diplomats have long pointed to Khamenei’s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran won’t build an atomic bomb.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued his own warning to those who would honor the UN sanctions as the chamber began meeting Sunday.

Associated Press