US Sanctions against IRGC Targeting Iran’s Economy

ddressing a conference entitled "A World Free of Terror” in Tehran on Tuesday, Major General Jafari pointed to the so-called Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and said, "The Americas are trying to implement the plan against the IRGC under the pretext of Iran’s missile power.”

However, this plan is targeting the Iranian economy in nature, he said, adding that the IRGC and missile capabilities of the Islamic republic are only pretexts for the US sanctions.

The IRGC commander also pointed to Washington’s never-ending hostilities toward Tehran and said the Iranian people who have witnessed the hostilities for decades will never accept to adjust their military and defense capabilities and equipment according to the US government’s desire.

He reminded US officials that "the more they intensify economic pressure and sanctions (against Iran), the more the determination of the (Iranian) nation (to boost) defense capabilities will increase and the larger the number and the greater the range and accuracy of the missiles will become.”

In early August, Donald Trump signed into law one of the most wide-ranging sanctions measures of the last five years, known as CAATSA, which enhances three separate sanctions programs targeting Iran, Russia and North Korea.

CAATSA expands US sanctions targeting Iran's ballistic missile program and enhances the legal basis for existing sanctions targeting the IRGC. It would also establish an additional US legal basis for sanctions targeting IRGC on the allegations of support for terrorism.

The US has imposed the fresh sanctions against Iran in flagrant defiance of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) reached the 159-page nuclear agreement in July 2015 and started to implement it in January 2016.

Since the historic deal was signed in Vienna, the IAEA has repeatedly confirmed the Islamic Republic’s compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA, but some other parties, especially the US, have failed to live up to their undertakings.

In mid-September, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei lambasted the US for violating the JCPOA, warning that any "wrong move” concerning the nuclear deal would draw reactions from Iran.