Laughing with a mouth of blood

voluntaryexchange:

The Obama Administration is already announcing new sanctions against Iran roughly twice a month, and while it seems unclear how much more they can even theoretically do its clear they’ve set the table to continue.

Today, the Treasury Department announced that they now consider the National Iranian Oil Company, one of the largest oil exporters on the planet, to be a “affiliate” of the Iranian military, allowing yet more sanctions against banks that have anything to do with Iranian oil.

The Treasury Department statement claims that the military is “coordinating a campaign to sell Iranian oil” worldwide while avoiding US snactions and that they have more influence in the company as a result.

Absent from this is the obvious conclusion that sanctions against Iran’s oil exports, in addition to raising oil costs worldwide, have also given the military even more power, allowing them to push their way into the once powerful oil company in a time of weakness.

Officials say that the potential new sanctions won’t apply to nations which have been granted “exceptions,” which includes South Korea, Japan and the European Union.