International Humanitarian Law (IHL) strictly prohibits any form of collective punishment. Therefore, the United States is legally prohibited from implementing policies that diminish the well-being of millions of ordinary citizens, even if the underlying objectives are legitimate. Although the U.S. claims that its sanctions do not affect ordinary citizens, this claim does not align with the actual situation on the ground. It is impossible to drastically reduce a country's income (by some estimates, to a third of its original value) and comfortably assert that its ordinary citizens will not be affected.

The United States primarily imposes sanctions on countries such as Iran and Cuba because they do not align with American interests. If that were not the case, why wouldn't the U.S. place sanctions on countries like Saudi Arabia [1] and Israel [2, 3], despite the abundance of reports from reputable international human rights organizations citing human rights violations in these countries? The issue of human rights is merely an excuse.