https://themilitant.com/2019/07/13/us-hands-off-iran-end-sanctions-now/
US hands off Iran! End sanctions now!
London seizes Iranian tanker as US sanctions bite
??By Terry Evans
Vol. 83/No. 26
July 22, 2019
Above, David Parody; left, UK Ministry of Defense
Top, British warship (in back) and Royal Marine patrol vessel stand
guard over Iranian oil tanker seized off coast of Spain July 4. Right,
Royal Marines storm ship, reportedly at U.S. request, as U.S. sanctions
inflict growing hardship on workers and youth in Iran.
British Royal Marines stormed and seized a tanker July 4 sailing near
Gibraltar, a British colony jutting off the coast of Spain. The ship was
carrying oil produced by Tehran bound for its ally, the Bashar al-Assad
dictatorship in Syria. The capture of the tanker aided Washington???s
squeeze on Iran and added to military tensions in the Middle East. The
U.S. government praised the act of piracy as it is enforcing biting
sanctions on Iran that inflict growing hardship on working people there.
The U.K. government claimed the vessel was violating EU sanctions
imposed on oil exports to Syria. The Spanish government said the seizure
was carried out at Washington???s request.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezai responded by
threatening to commandeer a British ship if the U.K. military doesn???t
release the tanker. So far the Guard has not carried the threat out. The
British Heritage, a tanker loaded with oil bound for Iraq, turned around
over the weekend to avoid Tehran???s threats and is sheltering in place
off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
SWP: ???U.S. hands off Iran!???
???The Socialist Workers Party says ???Washington???s hands off Iran,?????? Lea
Sherman, SWP candidate for New Jersey General Assembly, told a forum in
Union City, New Jersey, July 6. ???Working people in the U.S. have no
interest in interfering with the sovereignty of the people of Iran. We
demand: End the sanctions and get all U.S. troops out of the Middle East.???
The capture of the ship comes as the administration of President Donald
Trump has imposed crippling sanctions on Tehran aimed at driving its oil
exports to zero. It hopes the punishing measures will compel the Iranian
rulers to engage in talks aimed at reining in militias they deploy in
Syria and Iraq and ending any possibility Tehran could ever develop
nuclear weapons.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced Tehran would begin further
enrichment of its uranium stockpiles beginning July 7, to ???any amount
that we want.??? This breaches the conditions of the 2015 pact the Iranian
government signed with former President Barack Obama, along with the
governments of Germany, France, the UK, Russia and China. Trump pulled
Washington out of that deal, which had placed limits on the Iranian
rulers??? nuclear weapons program in exchange for an easing of sanctions
on Iran. He said it wasn???t stringent enough. The European imperialist
powers oppose the U.S. rulers??? reimposition of sanctions, but their
efforts to salvage the 2015 pact have failed.
In a reflection of their differences with Washington, Carl Bildt,
co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, questioned the
legality of the tanker seizure. ???One refers to EU sanctions against
Syria,??? he said, ???but Iran is not a member of the EU.??? Imposing
sanctions on others, he said, is ???what the U.S. does.???
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Tehran???s foreign minister, jumped on the statement
with just one word ??? ???PRECISELY.???
Tehran???s oil exports have plummeted by 90% under the impact of the
sanctions. The effects of these measures are felt most sharply by
workers and farmers who confront the twin scourges of rising joblessness
and a 50% inflation rate.
Politicians from both the U.S. rulers??? Democratic and Republican parties
portray Iran???s government as the natural heir of the 1979 Iranian
Revolution. In fact the clerical regime there consolidated power for the
country???s capitalist rulers in the early 1980s as part of a
counterrevolution aimed at pushing back the gains working people made
during the revolutionary struggle that ousted the U.S.-backed shah of
Iran. To consolidate its reactionary rule at home, Tehran has pressed
working people to fight in militias it organizes in the name of
defending Shiite Islam, but whose real aim is to expand Tehran???s
military and political influence against its rivals in the wars that
have wracked Syria and Iraq. Thousands of workers took to the streets
across Iran last year to protest those wars and their effects inside Iran.
Under the guise of preventing ???nuclear proliferation,??? the U.S. rulers
seek to block Tehran acquiring nuclear capacity while maintaining their
own massive stockpile. ???The SWP calls on Washington to unilaterally
dismantle its nuclear arsenal,??? Sherman told the forum. ???And the party
opposes the rulers of Iran or any other country developing these deadly
weapons.???
Example of Cuban Revolution
She pointed to the example set by Fidel Castro, the central leader of
the Cuban Revolution. Castro explained, ???We have never considered
producing nuclear weapons, because we don???t need them.??? In the face of
Washington???s relentless efforts to overthrow the socialist revolution
there, Castro said, we trust in our revolutionary people. ???The one
weapon we haven???t renounced is the ???war of the entire people.??????
Tehran???s exports of oil to Syria, now interrupted by Washington???s
sanctions, accounted for nearly half of the Assad regime???s petroleum.
Oil in Syria itself is mainly located in parts of the country under
control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Moscow and Tehran have provided decisive military backing to shore up
Assad???s hated rule. In the last two months at least 544 people have been
killed by airstrikes in a Moscow-led bombardment on the opposition-held
Idlib province. Some 300,000 have fled toward the Turkish border.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???US hands off Iran! End sanctions now!
???2020 election debates show crisis of bosses twin parties
???Almost half of all US workers live ???paycheck to paycheck???
??????Working people need to break with Democrats, Republicans???
???US rulers step up economic war against Cuba and Venezuela
??????Militant??? fights censorship by Florida, Kansas prison officials
Feature Articles ???Ethiopian Israelis fight police brutality, racism
Also In This Issue ???Protests mark 2 years since Grenfell fire disaster in UK
???Sudan military lifts siege, agrees to rule with opposition
???50,000 New Zealand teachers shut the schools down, win higher pay
???Kansas Department of Corrections Letter
Editorials ???Join fight against prison censorship!
On the Picket Line ???Airport, catering workers say, ???One job should be
enough!???
???Ramp workers protest working conditions at Miami airport
???Indiana Machinists strike for health care, living wages
???New Zealand workers who care for disabled strike for contract
Books of the Month ??????Mandela pays tribute to Cuba???s internationalist
fighters???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxx
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Voltaire
??? Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
???
??? Voltaire,
