Press TV has interviewed E. Michael Jones, a political analyst, about the US’s planned new sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: There was a wave of optimism amongst Iranians regarding what’s going to happen after the removal of the sanctions, which were agreed with the JCPOA deal. It looks like that optimism wasn’t something to actually look forward to and there wasn’t any basis to that, because the US continues to have its hostile policy towards Iran.

Jones: Well, it sounds a lot like the Gulf of Tonkin all over again. That was the supposed naval incident that led to the escalation of the war in Vietnam onto the Johnson administration during the 60s.

So, the ship left Iran with the nuclear material, went to Russia within days, now we have this attack that the Iranians are denying that the missile was launched and then all of a sudden the sanctions are already waiting to be issued.

So, it sounds as if it is kind of premeditated just from a superficial look of what’s going on.

So, I think we’re talking about a group of people in the Treasury Department, the sanctions department of the Treasury Department, I mean, this is where the problem lies. These are the notorious supporters of Israel and those people did not give up when the agreement was made and looks as if that they have created something...

Press TV: Well, you’re talking about the Treasury Department, it also reminds us of the bankers and... looking for an enemy to continue waging wars, selling their arms and all of that. Does the US want to have that enemy, that bogeyman, in the Middle East region, where it can propagate its wars?

Jones: Well, when you say the United States, it’s hard to tell what are you talking about here, because you’ve got a government that is huge and then you’ve got factions in the government that are always fighting with each other over power and sometimes they come up on top and sometimes they don’t.

But the fundamental fact here is that the history of the United States is a history of groups of people behind the government orchestrating power over the government. And so the government is constantly at war with itself and I think that’s maybe what you’re seeing here, the revenge of the people who didn’t want the deal to go through now suddenly reasserting themselves.

Press TV: But then, why is the United States punishing Iran, do you think in this case?

Jones: I don’t think the Israel lobby ever gave up; that’s the problem here. You’ve got a very powerful group of people that suffered a huge defeat with the Iranian thing and so they just go to other means. This is notorious; the United States is notorious for this type of thing.

I just interviewed Phyllis Schlafly, the lady who defeated the Equal Rights Amendment; in the middle of interview, her... analysis that the United States has implemented and removed all barriers from the women in combat. That was supposed to be defeated when the Equal Rights Amendment was defeated but they just implemented that by different means.

This, I think, is the story of the American political system. It’s always these hidden groups, always reasserting themselves over the will of the people.

By Press TV