Analysis by PMOI/MEK
July 14, 2018 – Two large Japanese banks, MUFG and Mizuho, have declared that they will be stopping transactions with the Iranian regime to avoid running afoul of new sanctions imposed by the United States. According to the new sanctions regulations, six months after the U.S. withdrew from the nuclear accord, banks that fail to comply with the sanctions will be subject to punishments by the U.S.
The U.S. has demanded Japan to stop purchasing oil from the Iranian regime altogether. In meetings with their Japanese counterparts, U.S. officials asked that oil purchases from Iran be brought down to zero. The final decision on the matter will be made in future sessions. The new push by the Trump administration shows that the U.S. is set on implementing sanctions more severely than before.
In accordance with Japan’s new policy toward the Iranian regime, Japanese media outlets reported on Tuesday that the country’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has canceled his trip to Iran. Abe was supposed to meet Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani in July. This was the first time since 1987 that a Japanese Prime Minister would be traveling to Iran.
The new U.S. sanctions are meant to curb the Iranian regime’s nuclear ambitions and its other nefarious activities, including its sponsorship of terrorism and terrorist groups in the Middle East region, its human rights abuses and its ballistic missile development program. The nuclear accord forged in 2015 only set limited constraints on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from international sanctions and did not address the multitude of threats that the regime was causing. According to experts, the incentives provided to Iran did not help alleviate the country’s economic woes and only intensified its other belligerent behavior.
U.S. officials have called the new round of sanctions the strongest and most paralyzing measures against the Iranian regime.