Washington, DC –
The United States has imposed the first batch of sanctions against Iran since
Donald Trump’s return to the White House, as the president pushes to reimpose
“maximum pressure” on Tehran.
Protesters burn pictures of Joe Biden and Donald Trump during a
demonstration against the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top
nuclear scientist, in Tehran, November 28, 2020 [File: Majid
Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters]
The US Treasury
announced the sanctions on Thursday, saying that they are aimed at Iran’s “oil
network”.
The measures
targeted firms, ships and individuals affiliated with companies already
sanctioned by the US. Under former President Joe Biden, the US routinely issued
such penalties to enforce existing sanctions.
“The Iranian
regime remains focused on leveraging its oil revenues to fund the development
of its nuclear program, to produce its deadly ballistic missiles and unmanned
aerial vehicles, and to support its regional terrorist proxy groups,” Secretary
of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“The United
States is committed to aggressively targeting any attempt by Iran to secure
funding for these malign activities.”
Iran has long
rejected sanctions against its oil sector and efforts to confiscate its exports
as “piracy”.
The Treasury
said the sanctions include “entities and individuals in multiple
jurisdictions”, including China, India and the United Arab Emirates.
Thursday’s
action comes two days after Trump signed an executive order to revive his
pressure campaign against Iran, which he started during his first term after
nixing an international deal with Tehran in 2018.
That
multilateral agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA), was struck in 2015. It would have seen Iran scale back its
nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions against its
economy.
Biden tried to
restore the deal, but multiple rounds of indirect talks with Iran failed to
achieve his goal. The diplomatic push was further derailed with the outbreak of
Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.
The former
administration ultimately kept the Iran sanctions in place and imposed more
penalties against Tehran.
But Republicans
accused Biden of failing to rigorously enforce the sanctions and halt Iranian
oil sales — particularly to China.
This week’s
executive order from Trump directs US officials to review and tighten the
sanctions to “drive Iran’s export of oil to zero”. The Treasury’s actions on
Thursday are seen as a response to that demand.
Despite the
renewed pressure campaign, Trump has kept the door open for diplomacy with
Tehran, saying that he is willing to reach out to Iranian officials.
“I want Iran to
be a great and successful country, but one that cannot have a nuclear weapon,”
the US president told reporters on Tuesday.
Iranian leaders
have denied seeking nuclear weapons, but Tehran has been increasingly enriching
uranium — the main material needed to produce a bomb — for years in response to
US sanctions.
Israel, the top
US ally in the Middle East, is widely believed to have an undeclared nuclear
arsenal as well.
On Thursday, the
State Department welcomed the US penalties, saying that Washington will not
tolerate “destructive and destabilizing behavior”.
In a statement,
it described Tehran’s oil exports as “illicit”. But Iran — a sovereign country
— is selling its own oil.
“Proceeds of
these sales support terrorist and proxy groups,” the State Department said.
Tehran has been
outspoken in opposing Trump’s plan for forcibly displacing Palestinians from
Gaza, a push that legal experts say would amount to ethnic cleansing.
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