Does additional sanctions for Iran still make sense? ‘The population in particular suffers’ | RTL News

1. What kind of sanctions are involved this time?

These new sanctions are mainly aimed at the production of drones and missiles. They must prevent parts made in the EU from ultimately ending up in those weapon systems.

In addition, people and organizations involved in the Iranian drone program are being blacklisted. They are no longer allowed to travel to EU countries and their assets at European banks are frozen.

2. Why these sanctions?

Iran attacked Israel with a combination of drones and missiles. This was in retaliation for an airstrike three months ago on the Iranian embassy in Damascus. A senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, among others, was killed.

The US and UK imposed similar sanctions on Iran on Thursday. These target the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Iranian Ministry of Defense and the Iranian government’s missile and drone program that enabled the “brazen attack” on Israel, US President Biden wrote in a statement.

3. How strictly are sanctions enforced?

It has been the case for some time that European components may not be exported to Iran or Russia. But in practice, circumvention does not appear to be too difficult. For example, the Groene Amsterdammer revealed at the beginning of this year that microprocessors from the Dutch chip maker NXP are not only used in washing machines and hairdryers, but also end up in Iranian combat drones.

The Russian army causes many civilian casualties in Ukraine with these drones. Research by the weekly shows that in practice, components of the drones can be sent to Iran without serious checks. Even sending containers with chips to Iran is possible, bypassing customs via third countries such as the UAE and Azerbaijan. We have seen the same thing happen for some time with the smuggling of oil, also via Dutch ports.

“Enforcement in the EU lags behind in many respects compared to enforcement in, for example, the US,” says sanctions lawyer Sebastiaan Bennink. “You see more and more criminal investigations in the EU. These can even lead to criminal prosecution, but it is not to the extent that American regulators enforce.”

4. Do sanctions make sense?

With sanctions it is always difficult to really hit a government or a country, says sanctions law specialist and lawyer Heleen over de Linden. “It always has an effect. It does not lead to an autocratic leader immediately leaving. Or to the entire arms industry collapsing at once. But it does make it more difficult and expensive for Iran to produce these drones.”

In combination with sanctions that have been in place against Iran for some time (due to human rights violations, nuclear weapons and Iran’s military support for Russia), the country is being hit little by little. “In the long term, these sanctions have prevented Iran from developing economically as much as it would like,” says Over de Linden.

Bennink agrees with this. “The sanctions have of course been serious for Iran for years because it makes it more difficult for the country to participate in international trade. However, the population in particular suffers from this.”

5. What can sanctions achieve?

They are mainly a political tool in times when there is no longer talk between countries. “Having substantive conversations appears to be difficult with these regimes. And people prefer to stay away from the alternative, a possible armed conflict,” says Bennink.

Moreover, sanctions send a signal to other countries and their citizens, says Ronald Kroeze, professor of parliamentary history in Nijmegen. “Sanctions are not always effective in actually stopping certain goods or weapons. But that is often not the only purpose of a sanction. With sanctions you can punish foreign regimes and, as a country or EU, make it clear what manners to deal with conflicts in the international are politically accepted.”

According to Kroeze, who co-wrote a book about sanctions and punishments between countries, not only the actions of the punished country can be publicly condemned. Kroeze: “You also make it clear to allies or your own population who is supported in international politics.”