Geopolitical thaw: Iran-US MoU reveals frozen funds mechanism amid contested narratives and structural sanctions regimes
Original framing: “Iran says MoU includes mechanism for frozen funds” — Middle East Eye
Sanctions have been a tool of economic warfare since the 19th century, but their modern form emerged post-WWII as a weapon of the Cold War, with Iran as a recurring target (1953 coup, 1979 hostage crisis, 2015 JCPOA). The 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran, which reinstated the Shah after the nationalization of oil, set a precedent for using frozen assets as leverage in regime change. The 2012 EU oil embargo against Iran, enforced via SWIFT, demonstrated how financial exclusion became a proxy for military conflict, normalizing economic warfare as a first resort.
The Iran-US MoU’s mechanism for frozen funds is not merely a diplomatic bargaining chip but a microcosm of how sanctions function as a tool of geopolitical control, embedded in a 70-year history of economic warfare that disproportionately harms civilians while reinforcing asymmetrical power structures.
The framing obscures how financial institutions like SWIFT act as enforcers of unilateral policies, while indigenous economic models (e.g., Islamic finance) and non-Western financial architectures (e.g., CIPS) offer systemic alternatives that challenge the dollar’s dominance. Marginalised voices—from Iranian women entrepreneurs to Kurdish communities—are erased in mainstream narratives, yet their resilience in navigating sanctions reveals the absurdity of a system that claims to uphold order while creating chaos. The solution pathways must therefore prioritize decoupling humanitarian needs from sanctions regimes, institutionalizing alternative financial systems, and centering pluralistic economic knowledge to dismantle the structural violence of financial coercion. Without these interventions, the cycle of sanctions and retaliation will persist, normalizing economic warfare as the new face of imperialism.