US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela failed to achieve ultimate goal: Scholar

Daniel Kovalik, who teaches international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in the state of Pennsylvania, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday.

US prosecutors have filed a lawsuit to seize the much-needed gasoline aboard four tankers that Iran is shipping to Venezuela, the country which is facing fuel shortages due to American economic embargo on it. 

In the latest attempt by the administration of US President Donald Trump to target the two nations, the civil-forfeiture complaint was filed by the federal prosecutors in the US District Court for the District of Columbia late on Wednesday.

The lawsuit aims to stop delivery of Iranian gasoline aboard the Liberia-flagged Bella and the Bering, and the Pandi and the Luna, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The complaint also seeks to deter future deliveries of Iranian fuel to Venezuela, and it also aims to stop the flow of revenues from petroleum sales to Iran.

“Well, these sanctions have only been successful to the extent that they cause a lot of suffering in both Iran and Venezuela, which they are intended to do. Now ultimately they’re intended to cause suffering with the ultimate resolve of the people overthrowing their governments so to that extent it has not worked and it won’t work,” Kovalik said.

“Meanwhile, the sanctions are unlawful. They’ve been imposed unilaterally by the United States without Security Council authorization as required by the UN Charter,” he added.  

“So they’re completely unlawful and the idea that somehow they’re going to enforce the unlawful sanctions in court, it’s just laughable. I mean there’s just no basis in law for them to do this, but this is just another tactic of the United States, again, to try to force regime change in these countries,” he stated.

“And I don’t think the US will stop the tankers from reaching Venezuela unless they do it with military means so far they have not been willing to do the that and I hope they aren’t, but they’re not going to be able to stop the tankers by threats or if I go into court. So I think ultimately the US will get nothing out of this as far as I can tell,” he concluded.