US economic pressure on Iran costly miscalculation: CBI
Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Abdolnaser Hemmati said on Friday that US economic pressure on Iran was a “miscalculation” that would increase costs for Washington.
“What the United States has done so far, alongside imposing some restrictions on revenues and trade, has been an attempt to intensify expectations and exert a temporary influence on markets,” Hemmati was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Speaking in response to the latest US sanctions against the country, Hemmati said economic pressure was not a policy but rather a miscalculation that would raise the costs of the calculations made by the United States.
Since late February, when a US-Israeli coalition launched a 40-day war, Iran has been operating under wartime conditions as well as a maritime blockade from the south.
Iran, which has faced Western sanctions for decades over its nuclear activities, has also come under a new wave of US sanctions dubbed the so-called “Operation Economic Outcast.”
On August 24, the US unveiled the new sanctions package against Iran, threatening secondary penalties against countries or entities that maintain trade ties with Tehran. The measures seek to use economic pressure to achieve what US military aggression failed to accomplish.
On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed additional sanctions on 27 Iranian airlines.
According to the Treasury Department, the measures also target 35 companies and one individual, with foreign intermediaries linked to Iranian airlines in Turkey, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates among those affected.
The scope of the sanctions could extend their impact beyond airlines to companies involved in financing, servicing and the international operation of Iran’s air transport sector.
Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization Captain Abouzar Shiroudi said on Wednesday that the new US sanctions against Iranian airlines were a continuation of a failed policy.
He said the measures could raise the cost of operations and procurement but would not bring Iran’s flight operations to a halt.