US President Donald Trump is expected to issue a directive on Tuesday restoring “maximum pressure” on Iran, Reuters reported citing a US official.
The directive instructs the US Treasury to enforce sanctions and compliance measures against entities that breach current restrictions.
Trump’s policy on Iran will be aimed at denying Washington’s Mideast nemesis all paths to a nuclear weapon and countering Iran’s “malign influence,” the official was quoted as saying.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also adjust or retract sanctions waivers, working with the Treasury to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero, the official added.
The US ambassador to the United Nations will work with allies to “complete the snapback of international sanctions and restrictions on Iran,” the official said.
Snapback refers the restoration of UN sanctions on Iran which were lifted by a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program, which would likely need to be activated by European parties to the agreement after the US withdrew in 2018.
Trump’s maximum pressure approach in his first term beginning in 2018 pummeled Iran’s economy, causing a dramatic decline in oil exports and skyrocketing inflation.
In response, Tehran began to taper its adherence to the nuclear deal and ramped up military involvement in the region. During his first term, Trump also ordered the assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in 2020, depriving Iran of its wiliest military operator in the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet Trump in Washington on Tuesday, and their strategy on Iran and its nuclear program is due to loom large.
Over 15 months of punishing military blows by Israel against Iran and its armed Mideast allies has weakened the so-called Axis of Resistance Tehran leads.
Trump said last month that he hoped a deal over Iran’s nuclear program would mean the United States did not have to support an Israeli attack on Iran.
Long opposed to foreign wars, Trump has nevertheless adopted a hard line on Iran, saying that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon but also maintaining that Washington should not pursue regime change.
Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, but Israel has long contended that a bomb in the hands of its arch-enemy poses an existential threat.
