The Trump administration on Monday reimposed harsh sanctions against Iran that had been lifted under the Obama-era nuclear deal that President Trump yanked, calling it the “worst deal ever negotiated.”
“To this day, Iran threatens the United States and our allies, undermines the international financial system, and supports terrorism and militant proxies around the world. By exiting the [nuke deal], the United States is able to protect its national security by applying maximum economic pressure on the Iranian regime,” President Trump said in a statement.
“As we continue applying maximum economic pressure on the Iranian regime, I remain open to reaching a more comprehensive deal that addresses the full range of the regime’s malign activities, including its ballistic missile program and its support for terrorism. The United States welcomes the partnership of like-minded nations in these efforts.”
The US will restore the sanctions in two phases, with the first set hitting the Islamic theocracy at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Administration officials said the sanctions would limit Iran’s ability to purchase US dollar banknotes, impede its ability to trade gold and other precious metals and prohibit Iran from selling or transferring Iranian graphite, aluminum, steel, coal and some industrial software.
The sanctions would also limit certain transactions related to the Iranian rial, the country’s currency, and would impact Iran’s automotive and food sectors as well as prohibit sales of commercial passenger aircraft to the country.
After a 180-day wind-down period, a final round of snapback sanctions would be put in place, which would hit Iran’s oil exports and energy sector, as well as port operators and shipbuilders.
Other countries aren’t bound by the US sanctions — but many large European companies could comply to avoid being targeted by Trump themselves.
Trump officials pointed to the current unrest in the country and hoped that the protests, coupled with these new sanctions, would pressure the Iranian regime to change its repressive and destabilizing policies.
“I think as we see the Iranian protests continue now in some number of days we hope that the Iranian regime will think seriously about the consequence their behavior is having on their own people,” a top administration official told reporters.
The Iran accord had put the brakes on Iran’s nuclear program, and had been deemed successful by international nuclear watchdogs and the other countries that negotiated the agreement, including Germany, France, the UK, Russia and China.
Iran responded angrily, and European leaders opposed Trump’s moves.
Iran said the US was “isolated” in its hostility to the Islamic republic as it braced for the return of sanctions against the backdrop of political unrest inside the country.
“Of course, American bullying and political pressures may cause some disruption, but the fact is that in the current world, America is isolated,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
European foreign ministers said they “deeply regret” the reimposition of US sanctions.
A statement Monday by European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK insisted that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was “ working and delivering on its goal” of limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
The Europeans said the Iran deal was “crucial for the security of Europe, the region and the entire world” and that “we are determined to protect European economic operators engaged in legitimate business with Iran.”
Despite the support, however, many large European firms are leaving Iran for fear of US penalties.
Renewed US hostility has already sparked a run on Iran’s currency, which has lost around half its value since Trump’s announcement.
Iran has seen days of protests and strikes in multiple towns and cities over water shortages, high prices and wider anger at the political system.
Severe reporting restrictions have made it impossible to verify the swirl of claims coming through social media.
But journalists did confirm a heavy buildup of riot police Sunday night in the town of Karaj, just west of Tehran, that has been a focal point of unrest, and said mobile internet had been cut in the area.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani eased foreign exchange rules Sunday, allowing unlimited tax-free currency and gold imports, and reopening exchange bureaus after a disastrous attempt to fix the value of the rial in April led to widespread black-market corruption.
With senior religious authorities calling for a crackdown on graft, the judiciary said Sunday it had arrested the vice governor of the central bank in charge of foreign exchange, Ahmad Araghchi, along with a government clerk and four currency brokers.
Two countries that have welcomed increased pressure on Iran are its key regional rivals, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman described the renewed sanctions as “a courageous decision which will be remembered for generations.”
After months of fierce rhetoric, Trump surprised observers last week when he offered to meet with Rouhani without preconditions.
But Zarif suggested it was hard to imagine negotiating with the man who tore up an agreement on which Iran and world powers had spent the “longest hours in negotiating history.”
“Do you think this person (Trump) is a good and suitable person to negotiate with? Or is he just showing off?” he said.
Over the weekend, Trump once again floated the idea of meeting, tweeting, “I will meet, or not meet, it doesn’t matter — it is up to them!”
But that came less than two weeks after a bellicose exchange between the two presidents, with Rouhani warning of the “mother of all wars” and Trump responding with a Twitter tirade.
“To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” he wrote.
With Post wires