UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Malaysian Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday urged greater international control of
sanctions, criticizing US attempts to force all countries to stop doing
business with Iran.
“We do not know under what laws sanctions are applied. It appears to be
the privilege of the rich and the powerful,” the outspoken 94-year-old leader
said in an address to the UN General Assembly.
“If you want to have sanctions, let us have a law to govern them,” he
said.
“The fact is that when sanctions are applied to a country, other countries
get sanctioned as well. Malaysia and many others lost a big market when
sanctions were applied on Iran.”
The United States has increasingly used sanctions as a diplomatic tool,
with President Donald Trump threatening other nations with punishment if they
buy any oil from Iran.
Seeking to curb Iran’s regional influence, Trump unilaterally imposed the
sanctions after walking away from a multinational nuclear deal.
Speaking to reporters after his address, Mahathir acknowledged that
Malaysian firms had little choice but to comply for fear of being hit by US
sanctions.
“Generally, the world is helpless,” he said.
Mahathir also renewed his criticism of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an
11-nation trade pact that includes Malaysia but from which Trump pulled the
United States.
“Rich companies had given themselves the power to sue governments. The
terms of the agreement were drawn up by them — and they are not all like
Bill Gates, who spends some money on charity,” he said.
“Most are bent on exploiting the power money gives them,” he said.
Mahathir called for a renegotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership after
his election last year.
The deal had been sealed shortly before the surprise return to power of
Mahathir, who had led Malaysia for more than two decades before his
retirement in 2003.