Collateral Damage: The Humanitarian Consequences of U.S. Sanctions on Iran

By Kristy C. Lam

As of 2017, about 10-12 million Iranian people live under the poverty line. Millions are likely to have joined this group since the economic downturn began in 2018 when sanctions were reimposed.

In Collateral Damage: The Humanitarian Consequences of U.S. Sanctions on Iran, Kristy Lam explores the inaccuracy of the gen

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: Dec 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781636762364

Book preview

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

COLLATERAL

DAMAGE

THE HUMANITARIAN CONSEQUENCES OF U.S. SANCTIONS ON IRAN

KRISTY C. LAM

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NEW DEGREE PRESS

COPYRIGHT © 2020 KRISTY C. LAM

All rights reserved.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

ISBN     978-1-63676-595-2     Paperback

              978-1-63676-235-7     Kindle Ebook

              978-1-63676-236-4     Ebook

To My Loving Family,

Mom, Dad, Marco, Jojo.

To my friends who’ve been with me throughout this process, and my travel buddies without whom I would not have had this experience.

This book is for you.

Contents

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Introduction

Part I

Chapter 1.   How We Got Here and Preconceptions

Chapter 2.   What are Sanctions?

Part II

Chapter 3.   Sanctions’ Effects on the Economy

Chapter 4.   Health

Chapter 5.   Food

Chapter 6.   Environment

Chapter 7.   Housing

Chapter 8.   Education

Part III

Chapter 9.   Arts

Chapter 10. Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Appendix

Notes

Introduction

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Just three US dollars for a gram? D, this twenty-something-year-old, wearing glasses and a button-down shirt, asked me with urgency in his voice. We had struck up a conversation by the fountains of Naqsh-e-Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran. Now a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site, the Square is surrounded by symmetrical rows of inset arches on each of the four lengths. Though the Grand Bazaar, palace, and mosque embedded in the enclosure all date back to the seventeenth century, many locals can be found regularly congregating in the marketplace or sitting on a bench by the manicured green lawn that lines the inside of the Square.

D was a recent college graduate who studied engineering in college and had an interest in learning languages—which I learned by conversing with him in Mandarin. He hoped to save up enough money to live abroad, perhaps somewhere in Europe, where he envisioned a better future and more employment opportunities than in Iran. To finance his dreams, he had decided to trade saffron—stocking up on kilograms of the valuable, bright red spice with the intention of selling small batches to tourists visiting Iran. Little did D know that the United States would abruptly pull out of the Iran Deal. With expectations of growing inflation and fewer visitors to the country due to worsening foreign relations, D’s business idea started to turn sour. He was left with bags of high-quality saffron with no buyers. At $3 per gram, this was less than half the price of the spice in foreign countries. In America, the equivalent quality of saffron could be sold for as much as $8.29 per gram.[1]

D and I were the same age, shared similar interests, and both had ambitious futures. Yet, his country’s tumultuous economy had not only cost him his business idea, but the fraught US-Iran relations that were responsible for the sudden economic downturn were also affecting his life plans. His hopes for emigration were all but gone. For now, he was struggling with everyday finances. Standing opposite him, this situation seemed surreal.

As I traveled throughout Iran, I met more and more people like him: people who had taken big risks in their life but lost the optimism that had originally motivated them. Idealism became a luxury when faced with the reality of Iran’s volatile economic situation. Young graduates started businesses, but did so knowing that their fledgling companies could collapse within a news cycle. Petroleum engineers became tour guides. People turned to any kind of employment for a viable income, only to learn about the sanctions’ wide-reaching impacts.

Yet, despite the myriad stressors arising from the economic burdens and uncertainties, Iranians were patient and generous to locals and foreigners alike. A taxi driver drove up to another car just to warn the owner of some problems with the exhaust pipe. A man offered a packet of gum in his pocket to the young boy in the bazaar begging for food. Everywhere my friends and I went, people gave us their phone numbers in case of any emergencies: So long as you are in Iran, call me if you ever need anything, they said.

To our surprise, some Iranians were not shy about discussing politics in public. People were unafraid to make fun of the foreign media’s portrayal of Iran’s religiosity. Many complained about the regime. Some students even openly mocked mullahs (religious clerics) on the street. When asked about countries like the US, where both governments are mutually antagonistic, locals asserted the distinction between their objection towards the US government and their recognition of humanity in the American people.

From my brief three weeks traveling from the north to the south of Iran, I was already impressed by the country’s complexity and diversity. Everything from food to religiosity varies from region to region, and within regions. Iranians are generous, proud, polite, modest, brave. They are law-abiding and rebellious. They have a rich cultural history that values art and literature and science. They dislike America, but like Americans. They have so much potential but, in some way or another, they are all held back.

One of the largest hurdles toward seeing Iranians as humans—with hopes, dreams, and rich culture—is the negative public view of Iran as a country and regime. Whereas the regime’s actions have been depicted as a religious extremist threat towards international security, Iran’s experience of imperialist interference and US meddling throughout history instead suggests a more desperate, defensive view of its actions. Regardless of Iran’s real motivations, vilification of the country persists as public perception remains negative. Eighty-eight percent of Americans surveyed in a 2020 Gallup Poll indicated they had mostly unfavorable or very unfavorable views on Iran.[2] With less than 1 percent of total visitors to Iran from 2014-2018 coming from the US, the general public American discourse on Iran is mostly fueled by the echo-chamber of news media.[3] The combination of the overwhelming antagonism and the lack of American travelers to Iran reveals an absence of understanding and nuance in the public debate.

Following the announcement of the US reimposition of pre-Iran Deal sanctions, Trump posted an image of himself with the words Sanctions are Coming, playing on a popular phrase from the television series Game of Thrones.[4] Polling results suggest the majority of Americans believe sanctions to be an effective way to… change policies that the United States does not approve of in general. And more specifically, people strongly supported imposing sanctions on Iran as a means of counterterrorism.[5], [6] Yet relative to hostile rhetoric against Iran, there has generally been little coverage about the harms that sanctions inflict on the Iranian people.

While human rights violations are inexcusable, America’s sanctions on Iran to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its human rights violations are hypocritical. These sanctions are implemented as the United States strengthens alliances with Saudi Arabia: a country that scores a 7 out of 100 (not free) in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2020 report, maintains repressions on women’s rights, migrant rights, and restricts free expression, association, and assembly.[7], [8] Moreover, the comprehensive sanctions regime that the US imposes on Iran in itself violates many rights of Iranian citizens, particularly the right to an adequate standard of living as articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[9] As will be explained in the chapters of this book, sanctions impede Iranians’ access to healthcare, food, housing, and education, among other rights.

For people fortunate enough to not have experienced the devastating impacts of sanctions and regimes, we have had the privilege of remaining oblivious to their real consequences. When I participated in Model United Nations in middle and high school, my friends and I would throw around the word sanctions for dramatic effect, freely and jokingly, as a means of threatening delegates from any country outside our circle of alliances. From a simple Google search of sanctions memes Model UN, this attitude towards sanctions is not uncommon. Thus, when sanctions frequently came up during conversations with Iranian locals as a major reason for their pessimism, I was struck by how many people were feeling the real consequences of a policy tool that had previously felt like an abstract concept to me.

Traveling to Iran changed my perception of international relations and foreign policy. I hope that by focusing on the humanity of those who live in Iran, readers will be able to glean the talent, resilience, and kindness of a people so often misunderstood and misrepresented. By highlighting the humanitarian consequences of sanctions in Iran, I hope to pressure current and future policymakers to reconsider the way they levy sanctions. Painting Iran as the enemy, conflating the Iranian regime with its people, and oversimplifying the consequences of sanctions is unproductive to our understanding of the world, particularly as it becomes increasingly interconnected. Viewing Iran and Iranian people with less hostility, but rather as a source of potential careful collaboration would permit a greater variety of policy options for the United States and encourage more creative and persistent diplomatic efforts to renew US-Iran relations. Isolation leaves all parties worse off: Iranian people suffer unnecessarily, and people from the rest of the world lose access to a source of history, culture, knowledge, and humanity.

Although this book covers sanctions’ effects on many essential human needs such as food, housing, health, education, and a sustainable natural environment, there are many equally important topics that this book does not include, such as women’s rights, children’s rights, refugee rights, mental health, and domestic Iranian politics. Nevertheless, these subjects—and particularly how sanctions may have influenced these dynamics in Iran—are worthy of in-depth exploration in the future.

This book was written primarily to address a young, American audience. It is suitable for students and aspiring policymakers with particular interests in international politics and human rights. It would also be an interesting read for those who would like to develop a better understanding of Iran.

Regardless of any existing interests in the country, understanding Iran as a regional power in the Middle East is essential to developing a global perspective. People in Western societies can benefit from learning about life in an Islamic country with certain rules and guidelines that may seem unfamiliar. Rarely, if ever, do countries in the West experience the everyday consequences of comprehensive economic sanctions, as more often they are the actors responsible for putting them in place. Learning about the context in which Iranian people live is not only a good starting place to broaden our conception of humanity, but also to realize the commonalities between Iran and the West is instrumental to the development of more humane policy strategies. Furthermore, a proper evaluation of the consequences of policy tools is critical to realigning US foreign policy to core American values such as life, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. Rethinking American policies—such as in the case of Iran—is especially timely, as the Western model of liberalism and representative government is no longer admired by people in many countries as the ideal form of government.

By providing a glimpse into the lives of Iranians, this book aims to shed light on the ordinary people who have become casualties in a political battle between Iran and the US. I hope that humanizing a population that is often overlooked or misunderstood by the West and highlighting some of the impacts that sanctions have had on these people would help bring them to the forefront of foreign policy decision-making. To what extent is the sacrifice of Iranian lives worth it in the attempt to influence the regime’s policies? Part I of the book will provide an overview of Iran and sanctions. Part II will discuss how sanctions have affected Iran’s economy and impacted the basic rights of Iranian people in relation to healthcare, food, the environment, housing, and education. In Part III, this book will examine the potential for a mutually beneficial exchange between Iran and the international community through the lens of Iran’s art scene. Finally, the conclusion will summarize the impacts of sanctions on the Iranian people and provide suggestions for the general public and policymakers to improve human rights conditions in Iran.

Throughout this book, some names are changed or withheld for anonymity.

Part I

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Chapter 1

How We Got Here and Preconceptions

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Perceptions

Roughly 2,500 years ago, gold and silver, jewelry, animals, and weapons were brought from all corners of the Persian Empire to the city of Persepolis during the Achaemenid dynasty. Sculptural reliefs by the entrance of the Apadana, a reception hall for the king, depicted trade delegations from Syria, Ethiopia, India, and twenty other countries that made up the Empire.[10] Some of the dignitaries were holding hands or touching the shoulders of their companion. The illustration of this peaceful procession is among the rarest and most pleasant depictions of court ceremonies of the ancient world.[11]

Compared to these carvings, modern-day Iran may seem to inhabit an entirely different world. Not only does it have turbulent relationships with its neighboring countries—having been involved in wars and proxy wars in the Middle East—but it has also lost its status as a global power.[12] By using non-state actors, Iran has provided training and financial support to Shia forces and rebel groups. The state has assisted the Assad regime in Syria, advanced missile production capabilities for militias in Iraq, and aided the Houthis in the war in Yemen against Saudi Arabia.[13] A 2013 Pew Research Center study showed that most people in most of the countries surveyed had an unfavorable view of Iran. Beyond the US, where about seven out of ten people had a negative view of the country, people in western Europe and even Muslim countries also had a predominantly unfavorable opinion of Iran.[14]

Where Did These Perceptions Come From?

The breakdown of Iran’s foreign relations can be primarily attributed to a series of events involving the United States. Many Iranians still blame the US for CIA involvement in the 1953 coup, whereby the popular Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh—who nationalized British-held portions of Iran’s oil industry—died under house arrest.[15] For context, Mosaddegh and Mohammad Reza Shah (the Iranian monarch) were in a struggle for control over the government. The US supported the