Press Release (19th September 2026)
CITIZENS INTERNATIONAL FIRMLY REJECTS UNILATERAL ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AND FIRMLY AGAINST TRUMP’S DOMESTIC LEGISLATION TO SANCTION RUSSIA AND IRAN.
[KUALA LUMPUR] – Citizens International firmly rejects unilateral economic sanctions and firmly against domestic legislation like the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 that bypasses international diplomacy to impose sweeping sanctions and punitive tariffs.
The law was recently signed by Trump, and it allows Trump’s administration to extend existing sanctions against Iran, and enables sweeping sanctions on Russia, as well as giving Trump the power to impose additional tariffs on countries breaking the embargo.
Iran remains one of the most heavily sanctioned nations globally, subject to overlapping restrictions from the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and United Nations. The country has faced an onslaught of sanctions regimes since 1979, several of which have been reimposed at various times since. UN sanctions, for example, were officially reimposed against Iran in September 2025 when France, Germany, and the United Kingdom triggered the “snapback” mechanism under UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
Trump’s decision to utilize domestic legal instruments to extend Iranian sanctions followed the defeat of US-backed UN Security Council resolutions aimed at extending monitoring and oversight, which were vetoed by Russia and China. The proposal was defeated by a vote of 11–2, with Somalia and Pakistan abstaining because of the Russian and Chinese vetoes.
Sanctions targeting Russia were enacted in response to the war in Ukraine, and were initially introduced by Western powers—the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand—before being adopted by the EU, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. However, extensive data reveals that these measures have failed to stop the war while hurting the imposing nations more than Russia, driving severe energy crises and high inflation across Europe.
It’s worth pointing out that the rest of the world has refused to join the sanctions because it wants to continue trading with both Russia and Ukraine. The Global South do not want to be part of a conflict that they believe must be ended by negotiation. Most of the world, therefore, does not agree with the sanctions against Russia, nor does it agree with the idea that one country just decides on sanctions against another country and then, without any legal basis, tells others to stop trading with the country it imposed sanctions on.
We have long recognized that the contemporary US-led global sanctions regime has functioned as an instrument of war by other means. It is presented as a peaceful alternative to military intervention, but the act of depriving societies of access to finance, medicine, energy, food, technology, and the ordinary mechanisms is far from being peaceful.
The human costs of these unilateral economic sanctions are severe, as a new study published in the British medical journal The Lancet Global Health finds that unilateral economic sanctions lead to about 564,000 excess deaths around the world each year.
There are imperial underpinnings to the deployment of sanctions, and their primary function is to impose de-development, forced subordination, and justify the systematic plunder of Global South nations. It’s not meant or designed to produce peace or cooperation; rather, it is an instrument of control and punishment for those who refuse the hegemon of the day.
Citizens International therefore calls upon international bodies, sovereign governments, and civil society worldwide to stand by these principles:
- Reject Unilateral Economic Coercion: Stand firmly against domestic legislation like the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 that bypasses international diplomacy to impose sweeping sanctions and punitive tariffs
- Dismantle Sanctions as Instruments of Warfare: Reject the contemporary US-led sanctions regime, recognizing that these measures operate as sophisticated and devastating instruments of “war by other means” rooted in imperial objectives
- Protect the Global South from Forced Subordination: Resist economic policies whose primary function is to enforce de-development, compel forced subordination, and justify the systematic plunder of Global South nations
- Recognize the Failure and Global Harm of Sanctions: Highlight that punitive sanctions fail to achieve their stated conflict-resolution goals while causing severe collateral economic damage, energy crises, and high inflation internationally
The Global South nations must stand firmly to defend their autonomy: right to trade, to develop, to pursue independent foreign policies, and the right to refuse the idea that the rules of international economic life should be written by a handful of powerful states.
Sincerely,
Imran Rasid
Executive Director,
Citizens International
