Iran says US-Cuba thaw proves sanctions are useless

DUBAI — The normalising of ties between the US and Cuba after decades of estrangement is proof sanctions don’t work, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.

“Policies of isolationism and sanctions do not yield results,” Ms Afkham was quoted as saying yesterday (Dec 20) by the state-run Mehr news agency.

US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro’s announced a thaw in relations on Dec 17 after half a century. Some analysts have drawn an analogy with Iran, which the US hasn’t had ties with since 1980.

“Almost everything the president said about the failure of America’s Cuba policy could be said of our policy on Iran,” said Dr Trita Pasi and Mr Ryan Costello of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council. “There is little reason to expect that another 35 years of isolation would cause the Ayatollahs to surrender,” they wrote on Dec 18 in the Huffington Post.

The US broke diplomatic relations with Iran after militants seized the US Embassy in Tehran, holding 52 diplomats hostage for 444 days. The assault followed the 1979 revolution that brought Shiite Muslim clerics to power.

The US and its allies have also imposed economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. Iran denies allegations that its civilian programme is a cover to build weapons.

Amid shifting geopolitical developments, the estrangement between the US and Iran has eased. In September last year, Mr Obama placed a telephone call to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the first direct conversation between the two countries’ presidents since 1979. BLOOMBERG