Iran late on October 8 accused the US of targeting its “remaining channels to pay for food and medicine” in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by blacklisting virtually all of the Islamic Republic’s financial sector, cutting it off from the international financial system.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter: “Amid Covid 19 pandemic, U.S. regime wants to blow up our remaining channels to pay for food & medicine. Iranians will survive this latest of cruelties. But conspiring to starve a population is a crime against humanity. Culprits & enablers—who block our money—WILL face justice.”

Amid Covid19 pandemic, U.S. regime wants to blow up our remaining channels to pay for food & medicine.

Iranians WILL survive this latest of cruelties.

But conspiring to starve a population is a crime against humanity. Culprits & enablers—who block our money—WILL face justice. pic.twitter.com/n0fnXPNik8

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif)

Amid Covid19 pandemic, U.S. regime wants to blow up our remaining channels to pay for food & medicine.

Iranians WILL survive this latest of cruelties.

But conspiring to starve a population is a crime against humanity. Culprits & enablers—who block our money—WILL face justice. pic.twitter.com/n0fnXPNik8

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) October 8, 2020

8, 2020

The Trump administration move blacklists 18 Iranian banks that had, so far, escaped most of the US sanctions imposed since the US in May 2018 pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, arguing that only heavy sanctions could bring Tehran to the table to renegotiate restrictions on its nuclear and ballistic missile development programmes and roles in various Middle East conflict zones.

Critically, the move subjects foreign, non-Iranian financial institutions to penalties for doing business with the blacklisted Iranian entities, effectively cutting off Iran from global financial channels essential to trade.

"Today's action to identify the financial sector and sanction eighteen major Iranian banks reflects our commitment to stop illicit access to U.S. dollars," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in statement.

“Our sanctions programs will continue until Iran stops its support of terrorist activities and ends its nuclear programs," Mnuchin added. "Today’s actions will continue to allow for humanitarian transactions to support the Iranian people."

Central Bank of Iran governor Abdolnaser Hemmati dismissed the new sanctions. He said they amounted to propaganda linked to US domestic politics ahead of the November 3 American presidential election. “Rather than having any economic effect, the American move is for U.S. domestic propaganda and political purposes, and shows the falsity of the human rights and humanitarian claims of U.S. leaders,” Hemmati said in a statement posted on the central bank’s website.

“Punch in the face”

“It’s [the new sanctions move] like a punch in the face to the Europeans, who have gone out of their way to indicate to the Americans that they view it as being extremely threatening to humanitarian assistance or humanitarian trade going to Iran,” Elizabeth Rosenberg of the Center for a New American Security think tank was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“They also want ... to make it very difficult for any future president to be able to unwind these measures and engage in nuclear diplomacy,” Rosenberg added, alluding to the possibility that Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden could defeat Republican President Donald Trump in the election. Biden has stated he will explore taking the US back into the nuclear deal should he win the White House.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a tweet of being behind the new sanctions in a move to “lure [Trump] into doubling down on inhumane targeting of ordinary Iranians.”

The US Treasury Department said one Iranian bank was blacklisted because it is affiliated with Iran's military, while another was included because it is owned or controlled by another sanctioned Iranian bank.

The targeted banks are the Amin Investment Bank, Bank Keshavarzi Iran, Bank Maskan, Bank Refah Kargaran, Bank-e Shahr, Eghtesad Novin Bank, Gharzolhasaneh Resalat Bank, Hekmat Iranian Bank, Iran Zamin Bank, Karafarin Bank, Khavarmianeh Bank, Mehr Iran Credit Union Bank, Pasargad Bank, Saman Bank, Sarmayeh Bank, Tosee Taavon Bank, Tourism Bank, and the Islamic Regional Cooperation Bank.

Foreign companies that do business with those banks have been given 45 days to wind down their operations before facing "secondary sanctions."

"Our maximum economic pressure campaign will continue until Iran is willing to conclude a comprehensive negotiation that addresses the regime's malign behavior," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.