Obama Announces New Sanctions Against Iran and Syria
Surrounded by memories of the Holocaust, a solemn President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against Iran and Syria and said the world should never allow again that hatred is the root of the “madness” of mass atrocities.
After Obama signed the new executive order, the Treasury Department applied sanctions against six companies or subsidiaries of Syrian and Iranian government, and also to the Syrian intelligence office. The action freezes any assets that may be under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.
Six of the seven-Revolutionary Guard, police and intelligence ministry of Iran and the Syrian intelligence chief and his office and cell phone company that is controlled by the state were already subject to sanctions from Washington. The new forecast integrates Internet provider Datak Iran Telecom.
He announced the measures against individuals and entities in Iran and Syria that have used technology to erode their civil and human rights. More broadly, Obama spoke about the work that “will never end”, the global challenge to avoid the atrocities.
Obama said the Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, “show us the way. If you do not give up, if you can believe, then we may believe.”
In his first visit as president to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, Obama broadly defended his government’s steps to protect innocent people by saying “we have saved countless lives.”
He gave his speech as the U.S. is under pressure to help resolve the conflict in Syria where President Bashar Assad is accused of carrying out a deadly crackdown on its people.
“National sovereignty will never be a license to massacre your people,” Obama said.
The sanctions announced by Obama is to reduce human rights violation using technology.
While rebellions in countries such as Libya and Egypt were encouraged by cell phones and internet media socialization, other regimes have used technology to track down dissidents or block access to the network.
For example, Iran has facilitated the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad to cause interference technology in cell phones and block or monitor social networking sites that the rebels used to organize demonstrations.
Category: Business News
