Recent intents to apply this act, following current electoral needs, have led to a violent reaction by countries of the European Community, who see in it and additional intromission of the United States in other countries' affairs and who think that, in may aspects, it violates international law.

The so called D'Amato act, known as "Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Act of 1993", imposes a series of sanctions to the former Persia, based on conclusions by the United States Senate, something like the judgment of a tribunal convicting an indicted subject without having afforded him a chance to defend himself.

The following are the Senate's conclusions:

Iran's Violations of Human Rights

1. "As cited by the 1991 United Nations Special Representative on Human Rights, Amnesty International, and the United States Department of State, the Government of Iran has conducted assassinations outside of Iran…"
2. "As cited by the 1991 United Nations Special Representative on Human Rights and by Amnesty International, the Government of Iran has conducted revolutionary trials which do not meet internationally recognized standards of fairness or justice. These trials have included such violations as a lack of procedural safeguards, trial times of 5 minutes or less, limited access to defense counsel, forced confessions, and summary executions".
3. "As cited by the 1991 United Nations Special Representative on Human Rights, the Government of Iran systematically represses its Baha'i population. Persecutions of this small religious community include assassinations, arbitrary arrests, electoral prohibitions, and denial of applications for documents such as passports".
4. "As cited by the 1991 United Nations Special Representative on Human Rights, the Government of Iran suppresses opposition to its government. Political organizations such as the Freedom Movement are banned from parliamentary elections, have their telephones tapped and their mail opened, and are systematically harassed and intimidated".
5. "As cited by the 1991 United Nations Special Representative on Human Rights and Amnesty International, the Government of Iran has failed to recognize the importance of international human rights…", besides, Iran has not made "appreciable progress towards improved compliance with human rights in accordance with the current international instruments."
6. "As cited by Amnesty International, the Government of Iran continues to torture its political prisoners…"

Iran's acts of international terrorism

"The Congress makes the following findings, based on the records of the Department of State, with respect to Iran's acts of international terrorism:

1. As cited by the Department of State, the Government of Iran was the greatest supporter of state terrorism in 1992, supporting over 20 terrorist acts, including the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people.
2. As cited by the Department of State, the Government of Iran is a sponsor of radical religious groups that have used terrorism as a tool. These include such groups as Hezballah, HAMAS, the Turkish Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).
3. As cited by the Department of State, the Government of Iran has resorted to international terrorism as a means of obtaining political gain. These actions have included not only the assassination of former Prime Minister Bakhitiar, but the death sentence imposed on Salman Rushdie, and the assassination of the leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran.
4. As cited by the Department of State and the Vice President's Task Force on Combating Terrorism, the Government of Iran has long been a proponent of terrorist actions against the United States, beginning with the takeover of the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Iranian support of extremist groups have led to the following attacks upon the United States

as well:

1. The car bomb attack on the United States Embassy in Beirut killing 49 in 1983 by the Hezballah.
2. The car bomb attack on the United States Marine Barracks in Beirut killing 241 in 1983 by the Hezballah.
3. The assassination of American University President in 1984 by the Hezballah.
4. The kidnapping of all American hostages in Lebanon from 1984-1986 by the Hezballah."

Nobody doubts that all the above cited acts violating human rights and of terrorism must be rejected, in the most firm and powerful way, by all governments, institution and men feeling respect for the rights of the human being, believing in democracy as the system best guaranteeing their respect, rejecting violence in all its manifestations and fostering peace among all men. In this sense, if this imputations of Iran's governments liability, made by the United States Congress, prove to be true, they should lead to a formal investigation within the United Nations in order to establish their reach and whether sanctions should be applied as provided by international law. If the International Tribunal being proposed at the international organization had already being created, undoubtedly some of the acts denounced in the U.S. Congress findings, could fit the criminal types provided in the draft treaty creating the International Tribunal. For the time being, it is far reached, under the law, to admit that a State may judge and convict another sovereign State.

The D'Amato act of 1993, has the features of a conviction against a sovereign State —pretty much as the Helms-Burton Act did with Cuba— adopted by a State acting as a judge. Other than the fact that this conviction —and we are not implying that Iran's government is innocent or guilty, but bearing in mind that the presumption of innocence does not apply only to individuals, it applies to States also— has not been decided by following a procedure having legal force, we feel that me must refer here to the decreed sanctions. When mentioning the sanctions adopted by the reviewed act, one must clarify that some of them are the decisions being proper to the United States as a sovereign nation empowered to adopt them as a means of conducting its foreign policy; there are others, however, that —as it was the case with the sanctions against Cuba under the Helms-Burton Act— the United States pretend to impose on individuals and States not falling within their jurisdiction.

Let us review these sanctions:

Trade embargo

Effective on the date of enactment of the Act, a total trade embargo shall be in force between the United States and Iran.

Transactions being covered by the embargo:

1. Any transaction in the currency exchange of Iran.
2. The transfer of credit or payments between, by, through, or to any banking institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments involve any interest of Iran or a national thereof.
3. The importing from, or exporting to, Iran of currency or securities.
4. Any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or any transaction involving, any property in which Iran or any national thereof has any interest; by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
5. The licensing for export to Iran, or for export to any other country for reexport to Iran, by any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States of any item or technology controlled under the Export Administration Act of 1979, the Arms Export Control Act, or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
6. The importation into the United States of any good or service which is, in whole or in part, grown, produced, manufactured, extracted, or processed in Iran."

"Extraterritorial application

In addition to the transactions described in subsection (b), the trade embargo imposed by this Act prohibits any transaction described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of that subsection when engaged in by a United States national abroad.

The law provides exceptions with regard to transactions having to do with the "furnishing, for humanitarian purposes, of food, clothing, medicine, or medical supplies, instruments, or equipment to Iran or to any national thereof". A generous provision, one could say, but not so magnanimous when one looks at the lack of a humanitarian feeling when punishing, as the Act does, all the Irani citizens, even those who are the enemies of Iran's fundamentalist and totalitarian government for its criminal actions.

We end these comments with a quote appearing in an article by Elsa Cardozo da Silva, in Venezuela Analitica's September 1996 issue, of the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, in El Espejo enterrado [The buried mirror] (Mexico, FCE, 1992):