Concerns mount for human toll after US blacklists Iran’s banks

While the Trump administration insists that sanctions do not interfere with the flow of humanitarian goods, critics in Iran and outside of it are pushing back on Washington’s narrative. All countries see these US moves are completely against international rules by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Push back President Donald Trump’s administration has long maintained that humanitarian trade is exempt from sanctions. “Some hawks in Washington hope that if they put Iranians in a pressure cooker, there will be more protests in Iran like the ones in November and this could destabilise the state.” Some hawks in Washington hope that if they put Iranians in a pressure cooker, there will be more protests in Iran by Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations After the government of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani cut petrol subsidies overnight in mid-November 2019, mass protests sparked across Iran that authorities quelled through various means including an internet blackout and violent crackdowns on demonstrators. Meanwhile, proponents of the US sanctions on Iran’s major banks claim that so-called “comfort letters” – assurances from the US Treasury that financial transactions can be processed in accordance with US law – should ameliorate concerns by foreign banks facilitating humanitarian trade with Iran. This is a last-ditch attempt prior to US elections to ratchet up ‘maximum pressure' by Ellie Geranmayeh, senior policy fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of Bourse & Bazaar, a think-tank focused on Iran’s economy, told Al Jazeera that foreign banks were not taking advantage of comfort letters even before the latest sanctions struck.