September 06, 2019
The Islamic Republic has sanctioned” an American group that lobbies for stiffer sanctions on Iran to punish it for its stand against the Islamic Republic.
The Foreign Ministry announced August 24 that it had sanctioned the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and its CEO, Mark Dubowitz, who was born in South Africa, reared in Canada and is now a US citizen.
It said the sanctions were imposed under an Iranian law enacted in August 2017 and titled, “Law on Countering Violation of Human Rights and Adventurous and Terrorist Activities of the United States in the Region.”
It failed to say what the sanctions would do to the group and its chief. However, the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) said it meant that “any cooperation of Iranian citizens with them, or foreign entities’ complicity with them against Iran will have consequences.”
However, when the United States has imposed such sanctions on third parties, Iran has insisted that it is a violation of international law.
The US State Department seemed to suspect the sanctions had physically threatening consequences, like the death fatva issued against British author Salman Rushdie in 1989. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said, “We intend to hold Iran responsible for directly or indirectly compromising the safety of any American.”
Dubowitz himself did not seem to share share Ortagus’s fears. In a statement he said the organization “considers its inclusion on any list put out by [the Islamic Republic] as a badge of honor.”
However, a few days later Dubowitz told another reporter he had spent much of the previous few days on the phone with the FBI about his security. He said he believes the Iranian statement gives Iranian operatives around the world a green light to target him and his staff. “We’ve been hammered in Iranian-controlled media for years,” he said. “They’ve just decided to formalize the threat.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said FDD and Dubowitz work to “damage the security and vital interests of the people of Iran [with] activities such as fabrication and dissemination of false information, encouraging, providing advice, lobbying and smear campaigns.”
The foundation has been the most vocal and active private group promoting sanctions on Iran. It has even approached foreign business firms it has found doing business with Iran, saying it will expose their activities in an effort to bring public wrath down upon the firms.