- CBN's SeniorInternational Correspondent,
George Thomas, is with me now.
Welcome, George.- Thank you.
- Yeah, well, thislatest round of sanctions
is by far the most significant, right?
- It is.
Pretty much it's asecond round of sanctions
since the United States pulledout of the controversial
Iran Nuclear Deal that was signed
by the previousadministration back in 2015.
In essence, the second round, Mark,
goes after about 700Iranian-linked individuals,
entities, companies,including major banks,
oil exporters, shippingcompanies, aircrafts, vessels.
In total, Mark, in the last two years,
over 900 Iranian entities
have been slapped bythese crippling sanctions.
Clearly, the administrationis trying to send
a very, very strong messageto the Iranian regime.
Keep in mind, the administration,
President Trump, during the campaign,
was very, very hard on theprevious administration's
handling of this Iran Nuclear Deal.
He thought it was a rottendeal from the get-go,
and he's using this time, andthe new round of sanctions,
to, in essence, create a new deal.
Whether that is in theworks is still to be known.
- Well, we need to mentionthat the Trump administration
is giving exemptions to eight countries--
- That's correct.
- To continue importing Iranian oil.
Do we know who is on that list,
and why the White House is doing this?
- Yeah, and I think, too,our viewers, you know,
you'll probably be surprisedto say, wait a minute.
I thought this was allabout crippling sanctions.
Why are we allowing Iran tocontinue selling its oil?
Keep in mind, oil, the oilindustry, is at the crux,
at the heart, of Iranians' economy.
So here's what we understand.
As you mentioned, thereare eight countries
that the United States,that the White House,
has exempted from this deal.
The eight are following:China, India, Greece, Italy,
Turkey, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
An important note here isthat this deal for them,
this exemption, will runout in the next six months.
According to Secretary of State Pompeo
who said this morning,the idea here is that
it would give countrieslike India, keep in mind,
India is the second largestimporter of Iranian oil.
China is number one.
The idea for this White House
is to allow some ofthese emerging countries
to not suffer such a blow
from potential sanctions against them,
so they've given theseeight countries six months,
four to six months, toget their act together
and eventually, as Secretary Pompeo said,
that they will basicallygo down to importing
zero barrels of oilfrom the Islamic regime.
- What is the President's calculus
with this new round of sanctions?
- The calculus with this White House
is that this will forcethe Iranians, number one,
to the negotiating table,
to negotiate a whole new nuclear deal,
which would in essencesay to the Iranian regime,
you have got to cease and desist
with your nuclear ambitions.
That is completely off the table.
You agree to that, and we will bring you
back into the global fold.
Number two, I think, less talked about,
but it is clearly implied.
This particular White Housewants a regime change,
wants a new leadership in the government.
Whether that's gonna happenis very, very doubtful.
Keep in mind, we are celebrating 39 years,
November 4th, 1979,
when Iranian Muslims, radical Muslims,
took over our US Embassyin downtown Tehran,
and they have basicallysurvived over the last 40 years
with all of the economic pressure,
political, militarypressure on this country,
they have survived 40 years later,
and there is no indicationthat the ruling ayatollahs
are going to any time exit the stage.
- Well, what has been thereaction in Iran overall?
- Well, I mean, theyare feeling the pinch,
there is no doubt about it.
On the streets of Tehran,people are feeling the squeeze.
Everything from transportation, food,
medical costs, everything has gone up,
double, sometimes in triple numbers,
and so they are feeling the squeeze.
The United States is very clear.
The administration is very clear.
Our enemy, we're nottargeting the Iranian people,
we are going after the regime.
We want the regime to reformas Secretary Pompeo said,
that the pressure willbe relentless, his words,
and will continue until, quote,"the revolutionary course
"by Islamic regime is put to and end."
- Alright, thank you, George.
Our Senior InternationalCorrespondent, George Thomas.
Thanks as always.- You're welcome, sir.
