When sanctions clearly do nothing to solve "ongoing problems" and instead inflict massive harm on innocent people, their continued imposition is purely punitive https://twitter.com/XiyueWang9/status/1341063783922458634

In this case, we know that reimposition of sanctions on Iran was not intended to "solve" any problem, but rather to cause as much damage to Iranian economy as possible in a bid to blow up the JCPOA. In other words, Trump admin threw away the solution and chose punishment instead

So of course the sanctions are punitive. There is nothing else they could be, especially when the admin defines "success" solely in terms of how much harm has been done to the Iranian economy. The more that ordinary Iranians suffer, the happier they are with their policy

Sanctions advocates can't point to any change in Iranian behavior for the better that the pressure campaign has caused. On the contrary, Iranian behavior has remained the same or worsened (from the US perspective) since May 2018. This is undeniable failure

Faced with this undeniable failure, sanctions advocates can admit that the policy failed, or they can redefine "success" in terms of causing harm. The latter is psychopathic, but that is all they have left