The world’s eyes have been on Iran since protests engulfed the country following the death of 22-year old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian Guidance Patrol (or “morality police”) in September 2022. The United States has since responded by adding yet another set of sanctions to the many already imposed on the regime since the collapse of the US-Iran nuclear deal. Activists within Iran and supporters around the world question the efficacy of these sanctions in bringing Iran to the American negotiating table, arguing that such measures are ineffective in coercing the regime into submission and, instead, push Iranian citizens further into poverty and inequality. 

US Withdrawal from the JCPOA 

Despite certifying Iran’s compliance with the terms of the deal in 2017, one year later, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), opening the floodgates to a wave of sanctions on Iran. The arms control agreement, signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Russia, the UK, Germany, and the US, strove to eliminate Iran’s uranium stockpiles and limit its nuclear centrifuges in exchange for sanctions relief. The US’ retreat from the deal preceded Executive Order 13846 (EO 13846), which came into effect on August 6th of that year. This move tightly restricted American economic activity with Iran by reimposing five sanctions that had been dismantled in 2016 under the JCPOA.

According to the EO, “no goods, technology, or services may be exported, supplied, or sold, directly or indirectly by any US person inside or outside the US to or from Iran or the Government of Iran.” This action’s reach extended beyond the US, with multinational companies based elsewhere, such as the EU and Canada, halting trade with Iran due to fears of American disapproval. Furthermore, the Federal Register Executive Order 13876 (EO 13876), revived from the Clinton administration and reimplemented in June 2019, sought to address the “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States” posed by Iran. EO 13876 prohibits American entry and cooperation in contracts that finance Iranian petroleum resources. Additionally, no American is allowed to contribute to or provide “funds, goods, or services” to Iran. These wide-ranging and powerful sanctions have dealt crippling blows to Iran’s economy and global trade.

The Effects of US Sanctions

Since 2017, Iran’s economy has steadily and severely shrunk. In 2020, the Iranian economy contracted by 4.99 percent. Only a few years prior, in 2016, the country experienced impressive growth of 12.5 percent after the signing of the JCPOA. The value of Iranian currency has dropped steadily since 2018; the central bank's official rate of 42,000 rials per dollar used for imported goods tells a very different story than the unofficial market value of 250,000 rials per dollar. The economic strain on Iran caused by sanctions harms the wellbeing, and even human rights, of Iranian citizens. 

Human rights, namely the right to healthcare and security, have suffered under the combined pressure of American sanctions, the regime’s control, and the lack of humanitarian aid permitted into the country. The decline in value of the Iranian rial makes imports much more expensive for Iranians, and since “most raw materials are imported… Iranians are spending much more of their income on less.” The skyrocketing cost of living brings further economic hardship to a country already struggling with an ailing economy and weak job market. The executive orders’ exemptions for humanitarian imports have had minimal effect given the accompanying sanctions against Iranian banks. The sanctions – whether intentional or accidental – jeopardize the country’s access to essential medicines and create documented shortages “ranging from a lack of critical drugs for epilepsy patients to limiting chemotherapy.”

Furthermore, the US’ sanctions have triggered “secondary sanctions” from countries and companies abroad who no longer seek commercial or financial connections with Iran for fear of resulting sanctions on their own business or countries. Human Rights Watch has found that, despite the exemptions built into the sanctions on Iran, they cause “unnecessary suffering to Iranian citizens afflicted with a range of diseases and medical conditions.” A group of UN human rights experts declared that compliance with American sanctions harms Iranian “human rights, particularly the rights to health, to be free from physical and psychological pain, inhuman treatment and the right to life.” This is not the first time US sanctions have inflicted such damage upon countries: sanctions on Iraq during the 1990s also crippled the Iraqi economy and had “detrimental effects on the health of the population.” If the current sanctions continue, the situation for Iranians will likely worsen over time. 

The COVID-19 pandemic provides glaring evidence of the lack of healthcare in Iran. With over 125,000 confirmed deaths by October 2020, Iran was one of the hardest hit countries in the Middle East. US sanctions prevented Iran from access to testing kits and later vaccines. The 16.8 million doses of vaccines Iran paid for in January 2021 were delayed for multiple months, costing countless Iranian lives. Calls for sanctions to be lifted during the pandemic to assist in the country’s recovery were left unanswered, further damaging Iran’s economy and citizens’ quality of life.  

Recent Developments

Iranian society’s struggle under US sanctions has continued with President Biden. The current protests surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini and the United States’ desire to get Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table pose a critically important and difficult diplomatic problem for both international security and the future of the Iranian public. The Biden administration has struggled to negotiate with Iran over its missile program and its continued support for militias after a potential revival of the JCPOA in the future. Biden has warned Iran that the US will further increase sanctions if Iran fails or refuses to negotiate a new nuclear deal. The concern held by many American government officials is that if the US reinstates the agreement, and most of the economic sanctions currently placed on Iran are lifted, the United States will lose “most (of its) leverage to get Iran to agree to these additional things that it does not want” while also handing the regime tens of billions of dollars. It therefore seems increasingly unlikely that the Biden administration will correct Trump’s course and return to JCPOA. Washington feels left with no remaining options toward Iran other than tightening the enforcement of sanctions, a repetition of Trump’s strategy that has proved ineffective at getting Iran to the negotiating table. 

In response to the death of Mahsa Amini on September 29, 2022, the US imposed further sanctions on companies it suspects of involvement in Iran’s oil trade. This decision came one week after Biden delivered a speech about the death of Mahsa Amini, condemning “the Iranian crackdown on its peoples’ rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly, including by shutting down access to the internet.” In late September, the Treasury Department issued a license to American technology companies to evade sanctions in order to help Iranians gain web access, since the Iranian regime has responded to civil unrest by restricting internet access across the country. The new sanctions target specific ministers within the Iranian regime responsible for communication and security, freezing their assets in the US and preventing global institutions from conducting business with them. The sanctions and other financial punishments posed on Iran affect nearly every sector of the country’s economy.

The Argument for the End of Sanctions

Many protestors and their global allies argue that this move will not effectively encourage freedom of speech and human rights in Iran. Opponents of sanctions argue that such economic penalties only serve to oppress the lower classes. For example, many Iranians cannot afford Internet access because sanctions on Iranian banks have cut them off from the international banking system. Experts and activists alike therefore urge the US government to supply civilians with free wifi services. This current insurrection against the regime is unique in that it is run by the younger Iranian generation, members of which rely on the Internet not only to assemble domestically and to inform the public of danger, but to broadcast their struggle for freedom to an international audience. Activists maintain that facilitating access to the Internet, rather than sanctioning a select few, would have a much more palpable and positive impact in Iran. On the other hand, lifting sanctions on Iran at this critical point of international focus could make the US look weak on the international stage. While supporters of sanctions argue that such pressure on Iran may bring a faster end to the regime, the reality of sanctions does not support this claim. The Biden administration and allies around the world must analyze the effects of sanctions closely and seek a more effective approach to aid the Iranian public. 

The United States now walks a thin line between confronting a dictatorship and assisting Iranians. The Biden administration must take the pleas and demands of Iranian citizens seriously in order to bring justice and liberation to a country riddled with poverty and inequality. To positively impact the lives of the Iranian people, the US must make clear that banks and companies throughout the world will not face risk in exporting or financing humanitarian aid to non-governmental organizations operating in Iran. Working alongside its allies, the US must encourage others to actively contribute resources to the cause and establish an expedited system through which to supply such aid to Iran. Leading the United Nations, the US can advocate for the tracking of human rights violations in Iran as occurs in Syria and Myanmar to ensure future accountability for crimes against humanity. Finally, the US should activate diplomatic channels with Iran to provide humanitarian aid and medical equipment while also negotiating a nuclear treaty. Much like the US’ strategy via the Helsinki process with the USSR, it is possible and in fact necessary to negotiate a nuclear treaty while aiding civilians fighting against injustices. The path to productive American-Iranian relations and justice for the Iranian people is the termination of thoughtless and crippling sanctions and the ushering in of a new era of creative and compassionate diplomacy.

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