US Senate sanctions: strike old enemies - COMMENT

Baku. 28 July. REPORT.AZ/ The US Senate has adopted the bill on "The fight against the US enemies through sanctions" against Russia, Iran and North Korea. Some 419 out of 435 congressmen and 98 senators have voted in favor of and 3 congressmen and 2 senators against the bill.

Overall, half of a 184-page document is dedicated to Russia. Moscow's actions in Ukraine, damaging the cyber security in the United States and other countries, the attempt to influence the elections, supporting the Bashar Asad regime in Syria, corruption, human rights violations and other similar issues have been featured in the document. The sanctions envisage the oil and gas and financial fields of Russia.

The new sanctions may be the most large-scale and complex restrictions imposed against Russia since 2014. Earlier, such steps were taken at the President's order or the relevant decision of the Department of Finance.

The primary issue in the bill is that before abolishing or softening the anti-Russian sanctions, the President must reach an agreement with congressmen.

North Korea has been subjected to sanctions due to the nuclear missile tests and human rights violations.

Sanctions have been imposed on Iran, as the country has broken the terms of the agreement pact, backed terrorism and violated human rights.

The fact that the bill has been adopted by the two houses with the majority of votes shows that there is no sharp disagreement between the Republican and Democratic Parties.

In other words, both political parties consider Russia, Iran and North Korea the enemies of the US

Notably, several days ago, US President Donald Trump warned Iran that in case it does not abide by the nuclear program agreed with the international community, Tehran will "face a very big and serious problem. I assure you of that."

On July 27, Iran tested its missile carrier "Simurg". Press Secretary of the US Department of State Heather Nauert said that the Iranian government had violated UN Security Council resolution 2231: "We consider that Iran continues to work on ballistic missiles."

It seems like even though the US President has changed, the country's interests and targets remain the same. We may assess the new sanctions as trust in Donald Trump and his passing of the test. It can mainly apply to Russia.

Notably, within the framework of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prior to that, the US Secretary of State had mulled with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov the issues of mutual interest. We can predict that during those meetings, Washington proposed the Kremlin officials to withdraw from its stance on Syria, Iraq and Ukraine. However, the mentioned bill was not adopted, because appropriate steps were not taken by Moscow officials, as discussions on imposing anti-Russian sanctions had been held for a while.

It should be noted that Vladimir Putin has signed the bill saying that the Russian air defense base will stay in Syria for another 50 years. It can be assessed as the response to the US sanctions. In other words, the Kremlin has demonstrated once again that it is not going to change its stance on the Post-Soviet countries (in this case Ukraine). As a matter of fact, imposing sanctions also proves it.

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump opposed to the agreement achieved with the help of the international mediators regarding Iran's nuclear program. Even after he became the President, he continued to make anti-Iranian statements.

For more than 60 years, North Korea has been hindering the ensuring of the US interests on the Korean Peninsula. This country is also the ally to the US opponents - Russia and China. The White House, as well as its regional partners Japan and South Korea, are not satisfied and concerned with the systematic missile testing by North Korea.

Taking into consideration that Russia and Iran are neighboring to the South Caucasus, including Azerbaijan, sanctions will have an impact on the region as well.

Thus, with Trump, the US has lauched a strike at its old opponents. Its consequences may cover almost the entire Eurasian continent.