Hamid Yazdan Panah, 27 October 2013

The Iranian regime has continued to defy the international community over its nuclear program, and as a result faces ever increasing sanctions and isolation. The regime has shown no intention of changing it nuclear policy, and has repeatedly stated that its course is irreversible. Many Iranians and westerners have questioned the use of sanctions and whether they are an effective tool against the regime, or a threat to the domestic population. But little attention has been paid as to who is behind these efforts to remove sanctions, and how they aim to benefit from business with Tehran.

These days you can find countless articles written on the humanitarian toll of sanctions on Iran, and how the West is hurting the people of the country, and how this will ultimately backfire. Yet these articles never mention the horrific human rights situation in Iran in regards to freedom of speech, ideology or religion. Or the absolute devastation and mismanagement of the Iranian economy and national resources by the regime. Nor do they hold the regime responsible for creating the situation which lead the sanctions in the first place.

For many who advocate against sanctions their opposition is based on legitimate humanitarian concerns, pointing to instances in Iraq or Cuba where sanctions took a significant toll on the population, without bringing about policy change. Doubtless the historical references used to make these arguments are legitimate, as the  death of over 500,000 was a humanitarian catastrophe. However many who advocate against sanctions cloak their arguments with humanitarian rhetoric in order to pursue other ends.
Interestingly enough two groups in particular have been adamantly opposed to sanctions against Iran, namely the regimes lobby and  oil companies. Ironically, those who claim they support they support human rights and oppose western intervention find themselves advocating for the same side as the blood thirsty regime in Tehran, as well as multinational corporations interested in keeping the flow of oil steady, regardless of the humanitarian toll.

Several groups and individuals have focused on the issue of sanctions on Iran, and have written extensively on the issue in the context of human rights and suffering. Yet they often say little about the torture of political prisoners or barbaric executions taking place in Iran.

A more nuanced method of opposing sanctions is employed by NIAC, an organization which has been criticized for its connections with Tehran and the oil industry.  Despite claiming it represents Iranian Americans, the group undertakes extensive lobbying to push a particular agenda. Using sophisticated analysis and supposed expertise in the region, the group clearly a specific agenda; namely to oppose sanctions on Iran. A simple inquiry into the any of a number of articles written by Trita Parsi or members of NIAC reveal that they all end in the same advice, lift sanctions and negotiate with Iran.

Parsi’s lobby has always been about business and opening up trade between US and Iran. When they do talk about human rights and or opposing war, it is merely a ploy to hide their aim of his lobby. In this letter to his partner and Washington lobbyist he explained the real nature of his lobby:

““Although the mission of the proposed lobby should be to improve relations between the US and Iran and open up opportunities for trade, the initial targets should be less controversial issues such as visas and racial profiling/discrimination…  Despite its predominantly business oriented constituency, it is essential that the lobby creates a “human face” for its aims and goals. AIPAC successfully painted the opponents of the Iran Libya Sanctions Act as “greedy businessmen who had no scruples when it came to doing business with terrorist regimes.” The oil companies failed to characterize their campaign with “human concern for the well-being of innocent Iranians stuck with a dictatorial regime” or “support for the poor mid-Western family father who lost his job due the sanctions.  The human element is essential both when it comes to attracting support among Iranian-Americans and when it comes to winning the debate and the votes on the Hill.”

Further info on Trita Parsi and NIAC.

It is worth noting that these groups continuously advocate for and organize around these issues, yet rarely organize events or campaigns calling for attention to Iran’s atrocious human rights record, and when they do it is for a veiled attempt at casting themselves as an impartial organization. Instead they act as the regimes mouth pieces and ensuring that oil revenue continues to flow to Tehran.These groups have specifically targeted Westerners who have anti-war sentiments, and manipulated them into serving their interests.

Lastly, oil companies which represent the most profitable industry in the world, and the largest lobbying base in the world, have continued to oppose sanctions. This may be the least understood but most important player in the issue of sanctions on Iran. For many Iranians, the issue of oil has been source of decades of strife. From with the overthrow of Mossadegh to the current influence of Russia and China, oil has long been the source of foreign interference and influence.

For many Iranian activists, this drives to the core of the issue. The regime would not survive without its foreign backers, nor without the oil money it uses to bankroll its terrorist activities abroad. Sanctions level the field in the sense that they remove foreign interest from the equation, eliminating the economic interest that the regime serves for them.

Reading the business press, it is obvious that sanctions are a major concern for the economic powers of the world, not because of any humanitarian toll, but the threat of an unstable oil market. Nobody wants an unstable oil market, even if that means propping up despots and religious fundamentalists. The reluctance of many countries and corporations to abide by sanctions demonstrates the very real economic interest they have in the situation.

The fact remains, as long as oil continues to flow out of Iran, foreign influence and intervention is a reality, not a threat. Iranians inside the country have long pointed at the misuse of oil funds by the regime as one of its many abuses. This begs the question, is it the people of Iran who will be hurt most by these sanctions, or the regime and the oil industry.

Hamid Yazdan Panah is an Iranian-American human rights activist and attorney focused on immigration and asylum in the San Francisco Bay Area.