Despite multiple statements by people with access to information about Iran’s nuclear program, including the CIA and Mossad as well as quotable statements from Ayatollah Khamenei and recently elected President Hassan Rouhani, people still presume Iran is looking to weaponize their nuclear program.

For people in favor of sanctions, this is enough to back measures that have systematically impoverished the average Iranian, leading to shortages of medicine, rising food prices, and the destruction of the Iranian middle class.

Sanctions on Iran are not new. The United States has had sanctions on Iran since the 1979 hostage crisis. These sanctions banned all Iranian products except some carpets, food items, and information material.

These sanctions got worse under President Clinton, who banned trade and investment with Iran after it signed a contract with Russia to construct a nuclear power plant. This squashed the trade between the two that grew after the conclusion of the Iran-Iraq War.

But these sanctions, in many ways, have backfired.

Iran’s industry, once dependent on American manufacturers, started to develop on its own, producing its own cars and missiles. Iran is now ranked the 12th largest automobile exporter and their economy, before the recent bout of sanctions, was 19th in the world.

According to proponents, the point of these sanctions is to “bring Iran to the negotiating table.” Well, Iran has been coming to the negotiating table. Back in 2003, Iran sent a fax to the State Department offering a broad proposal for dialogue on everything from full cooperation on their nuclear program to fully accepting Israel’s existence. It was rejected.

Currently, the U.S. is trying to impose more sanctions ahead of the next nuclear talks. The rationale is to promote human rights, but even Iranian dissidents like Akbar Ganji have denounced the sanctions, according to the National Iranian-American Council’s website.

If anything, the point of sanctions was summarized on a 2011 episode of a Chicago radio show by Illinois Republican senator, Mark Kirk. When asked whether the sanctions are directed at the government or the people, ThinkProgress.org quotes Kirk saying “It’s okay to take the food out of the mouths of the citizens from a government that’s plotting an attack directly on American soil.” A government, might I add, that he says is not a legitimate representation of its people.

This is not diplomacy; it is collective punishment. What is it collective punishment for? The Iranian Revolution, most likely, which cost the United States its biggest ally in the region.

The Iran sanctions have been termed by many analysts as economic warfare, economic policies followed as a part of military operations and covert operations during wartime.

With this in mind, young Iranian-Americans like myself and other members of our student body are wondering: “Are we at war with Iran?” According to most of the mainstream news, no. But this isn’t diplomacy; we’re destroying the lives of millions and encouraging others to do the same.

We are fostering an environment that allows Norway to cancel residence permits for Iranian students and Apple to refuse to sell iPads to Iranian-Americans in 2012, under the guise of following international sanctions. It is unjust.