‘Zionist lobby behind anti-Iran bans’

An analyst tells Press TV that the Zionist lobby’s pressures have been behind fresh sanctions imposed by Washington on Tehran.

In an interview with Press TV on Sunday, Scott Rickard, a former US intelligence linguist, highlighted the amount of influence exerted by the Zionists on the foreign policy of the United States and its Western allies, saying the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) lobby alongside the NATO and their partners are driving the bans against Iran.

“You know as well as I do that many of the intelligence communities, many of the think tanks, many of the actual banking infrastructures are highly, highly populated by very pro-Israel, very pro-Zionist, very pro-Western ideology that can put that kind of pressure on another country and dictate whether that country can or cannot create something that every other country in the Western world is allowed to create,” Rickard said.

He raised concerns over the complicity of Western media in misleading societies and manipulating the world over the past 100 years.

“The newspapers, televisions, the information that is being fed to the societies [are] led by these influential individuals who are basically taking them down a path that is not in the best interests of the American people, the Canadian people, the British people,” the commentator added.

On Friday, Washington imposed sanctions on over 25 individuals and companies, including shipping firms, oil companies, airlines and six banks over alleged links with Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The sanctions come as the Islamic Republic and six world powers are in talks to reach a final agreement aimed at resolving the standoff over Tehran’s civilian nuclear work.

The two sides signed a historic interim deal in the Swiss city of Geneva in November 2013. The agreement entered into force on January 20 and expired six months later. In July, Iran and the six countries agreed to extend their negotiations until November 24 in a bid to work out a final accord.

The next round of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany is expected to be held in New York in September.

SSM/SS/SL