Israel to Help U.S. Enforce Iran Sanctions

Israel has welcomed the Trump administration’s fresh round of sanctions on Iran, but it will not confine itself to cheering from the sidelines. It will be taking an active role in implementation of the policy.

“The state of Israel will continue to assist the U.S. in enforcing the sanctions in the most comprehensive manner, and also to help it expose through our intelligence capabilities all attempts by the regime and the Revolutionary Guards to deceive and circumvent the sanctions,” Minister of Internal Security and Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan said on Monday, as quoted by The Jerusalem Post.

“We will also continue our determined efforts to thwart Iran’s attempts to establish itself in Syria, its attempts to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, and, of course, as recently revealed, Iran’s attempts to carry out attacks in Western Europe,” he said.

“I believe that after we helped expose the Iranian terror plot in Denmark, this too will bring many European governments to start to wake up and wake up of all their illusions,” Erdan said.

“These governments are beginning to realize that despite their efforts to create bypass mechanisms —which simply put are a moral crime — to help Iran bypass the U.S. sanctions, all European companies understand the message and decide to leave Iran,” he added.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon also voiced support for the sanctions:

“Wherever there is terrorism, there is also an Iranian fingerprint. Therefore, Europe and other countries must join the United States in order to create a united front for the stability of the Middle East and the world at large. From today, the world will have to choose a side – the U.S. or Iran.”

But the international community remains divided. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Monday said her country opposed the sanctions.

“China consistently rejects unilateral sanctions and long arm tactics. We think China and Iran carrying out normal cooperation under the framework of international law is lawful and reasonable, and (this right) should be respected and protected.”

“We regret the reimposition of sanctions by the U.S. We continue to believe that the Iran nuclear deal makes the world a safer place and our position remains that as long as Iran continues to meet its obligations under the deal by respecting strict limits on its nuclear activity, we will be committed to it too.”

The European Union and Britain sided with China.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said, “As long as Iran continues to meet its obligations under the deal by respecting strict limits on its nuclear activity, we will be committed to it too.”

“As such we continue to fully support expanding our trade relationship with Iran and encourage U.K. businesses to take advantage of commercial opportunities that arise,” PM May’s spokesperson said.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said his country was examining ways to protect companies potentially harmed by the sanctions.

“We are assessing how we will be able to protect the basis of our business engagements there,” Seibert said.