OPINION:
Amid all of the giddiness and hoopla of the hostage release in Iran (actually a swap of innocent hostages for convicted Iranian felons), the Treasury Department has sanctioned a certain 11 companies and individuals for recent ballistic missiles tests than Iran has carried out in violation of U.N. mandates. The missiles Iran has been testing are capable of carrying a nuclear weapon and threatening Europe and American forces in the region, not to mention Israel.
“This action is consistent with the U.S. government’s commitment to continue targeting those who assist in Iran’s efforts to procure items for its ballistic missile program,” the Treasury said in its statement, according to Bloomberg.
The list included Mabrooka Trading Co. LLC, based in the United Arab Emirates, and its networks in both the UAE and China, according to a statement released in Washington from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Five Iranian individuals were also on the list.
In 2010, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1929, which banned Iran from “any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches.”
Iran has said it will retaliate for any additional sanctions imposed due to the testing of ballistic missiles, saying the new sanctions would violate the ’spirit’ of the recently concluded Iranian nuclear agreement.
If the White House was serious about preventing Iran from threatening the world with nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, which it most surely will do in the out years when the nuclear deal relaxes nuclear weapon restrictions, it would not just sanction a few individuals and companies but would impose a much more rigorous penalty regime on the Islamic Republic.
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