Sanctions are used as a stick to bring an adversary country to the terms of the enforcing country, union or international organization. Regarding countries, almost all of them try to punish their foes by banning the flow of goods and financial assets. Generally, other countries generally ignore state-specific sanctions as they are all sovereign entities.
Yet, this is not the case when the U.S. imposes sanctions on a certain country. For instance, the Washington administration massively exerts sanctions on countries such as Iran, Russia, North Korea, Afghanistan and so on. It also designates lists of entities and individuals that it sanctions. For example, Türkiye is not under U.S. sanctions, but we know hundreds of companies and persons who are on the U.S. sanctions list prepared by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Whether sanctions work or not is a matter of question. Statistics show that the Russian economy grew despite American and European sanctions. However, it is acknowledged that sanctions indeed hurt.
Besides military goods needed for maintaining the war, sanctions also damage a country’s economy in general and severely affect the lives of civilians. For example, Russia had to pause the development of its brand-new passenger aircraft. In addition, Russia-based airlines cannot get spare parts for planes they bought from the U.S. and France. Moreover, banning flights to and from Russia has obstructed the travel of Russian citizens. The situation is even worse for Iran and Cuba as only food, medicine and medical products are allowed to be exported.
It is at the discretion of the U.S. administration to decide which country to sanction and which not. However, Americans force other countries and their citizens to comply with sanctions imposed by the U.S. This means that if, for example, you are a German company, you can not send auto parts to Iran. Even middlemen can not escape likely penalties if they ship goods to sanctioned countries. American authorities could put you on a Specially Designated List (SDN) so that you can not sell goods anywhere else.
As a result, it would be impossible to receive or transfer money as all banks have your name on the SDN list. Americans briefly imply that if you do business with America’s enemies, they will not allow you to use their monetary systems and will block trade with the U.S. or friendly countries. Companies, particularly global ones, generally comply with sanctions to not sacrifice their bigger markets.
The paradox does not end here. While the U.S. punishes American and non-American citizens and companies if they circumvent sanctions, it exempts certain goods, shippers and consignees when it is in dire need of them. For example, American companies continue to buy oil from Russia while many non-American companies grapple with the OFAC for doing business with Russian companies. In addition, it is bizarre that the OFAC has not sanctioned ROSATOM, the world’s biggest nuclear power plant constructor and uranium trader.
Double standards have also recently started to be applied to Iran. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is seeking a license to sell its products to Iran as it already does to Russia. Boeing has already started to sell aircraft parts to Iranian airlines, while General Electric has just obtained a license to sell spare parts. However, if another company in another country attempts to sell the same products, it may incur severe fines.
Such unfair and arbitrary sanctions policy reveals that American officials can lift sanctions for their companies but compel others to comply with them. We know that particularly companies in countries neighboring Russia and Iran face great losses due to sanctions. On the other hand, the very same U.S. bodies like the OFAC never think of sanctioning Israel, though the latter is currently committing genocide.
Obviously, sanctions are a political stick, beating the interlocutor with the hands of those who have nothing to do with the dispute.
*Holder of a Ph.D. in International Relations
