AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): In a speech made on July 31, 2020, Imam Khamenei called the US sanctions against Iran a great crime, not only against the Islamic Republic but against the entire Iranian nation. He enumerated the US government's goals in imposing these sanctions. He described their goals to be at three levels: short-term, medium-term and long-term in addition to their other goals. Khamenei.ir reviews these statements in the following text:
The sanctions that the Americans have imposed against the Iranian nation are a crime. There is no doubt about this. It is a grave crime that they have committed against a nation. Apparently, they have been imposed against the Islamic Republic, but in reality, they are committing this crime against the entire nation. I wish to raise a number of points in this regard. The first point is: what is their purpose of doing this? They pursue short-term, long-term and mid-term goals as well as a supplementary goal.
Short-term goal: Exhausting the Iranian nation
Their short-term goal is to exhaust the Iranian nation. They want to exhaust and perplex the Iranian nation so that they will finally stand up against the government. This is their first goal. They want to exert as many pressures as they can until the people get exhausted and stand up against the system, the government and the administration. This is their short-term goal. That is why last year, the year before that and this year as well, they spoke about a “hot summer”. “Hot” connotes that the people will stand up against the system. However, they themselves have been afflicted with a “hot summer”.
Mid-term goal: Creating obstacles in the way of the country’s progress
Their mid-term goal is to prevent the country from making progress – primarily, scientific progress - with the help of sanctions. They have specifically spoken about these goals and these are not my conjectures and analyses. These are words that they have uttered in their speeches – whether speeches made by their politicians or those who work in their political think tanks. So, they have explicitly announced these goals. Their goal is to bring about certain restrictions, through sanctions, so that the country will not make progress, in particular in scientific areas. They have even gone as far as to say that they have martyred nuclear personalities and other such figures in order to prevent Iran from making scientific progress. This is their mid-term goal.
Long-term goal: Bankrupting and making the Iranian economy collapse
And their long-term goal is to drag the country and the administration into bankruptcy. In other words, they want to destroy the economy of the country and make it collapse. Naturally, if the economy of a country collapses, it will no longer be able to survive. This is their ultimate goal and they want to pull this through.
Supplementary goal: Cutting off the relations between the Islamic Republic and Resistance forces
They have a supplementary goal as well: by doing so, they want to cut off the relations between the Islamic Republic and Resistance forces and organizations. This is because they know that the Islamic Republic will help and support these forces as much as it can. They want to cut off this relationship. These are the enemy’s goals and they have entered the arena to accomplish these tasks. Of course, one should say to them, “dream on!” The enemy wants to reach these three goals simultaneously – the short, mid and long-term goals, but thankfully they have failed.
The enemy’s sanctions have failed to achieve their purpose
Of course, sanctions have caused certain problems. There is no doubt about this. Of course, not all problems are due to sanctions. Part of our problems are due to our own weaknesses in managing the country. Some recent problems originate from the coronavirus and some originate from sanctions. Problems exist. For example, the people have livelihood problems – I will return to this issue later on. There are certain problems, but what they wanted to achieve has not and will not materialize. What they had in mind has not happened. The enemy’s sweet dreams has not come true. As it happens, they themselves have acknowledged the fact that their dream has not come true. The many pieces of news that we receive from various countries – from western and European countries and from the US – indicate this: those who are busy working in their think tanks are admitting that the huge pressures exerted through sanctions and the maximum pressure policy that the US employed did not work and they failed to do what they wanted to do to Iran. This is the first point: sanctions were a criminal act with the goals that I already mentioned, but the enemy has not attained his goals and will not attain them in the future either. Full Text of Speech 31 July 2020.
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