Trump reimposes sanctions against Iran
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday reimposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, saying the US policy is to levy maximum economic pressure on the country.
Trump also said he remains open to forging a new nuclear deal with Iran.
Despite pleas from other parties to the agreement, Trump pulled the US out of the deal in May, claiming the Iranian government was cheating on its commitments and funding “malign” activities around the region.
“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,” Trump said in a statement.
A first phase of US sanctions against Iran goes into effect overnight, targeting Iran’s access to US banknotes and key industries including cars and carpets.
The second phase, which takes effect on November 5 and will block Iran’s oil sales, is due to cause more damage.
“We deeply regret the reimposition of sanctions by the US,” EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement jointly signed with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany.
“We are determined to protect European economic operators engaged in legitimate business with Iran,” the statement added.
Despite the support, however, many large European firms are leaving Iran for fear of US penalties.
Iran said the United States was “isolated” in its hostility to the Islamic republic.
“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 ISNA news agency.
Renewed US hostility has already sparked a run on Iran’s currency, which has lost around half its value since Trump’s announcement.
It has added to tensions inside Iran, which has seen days of protests and strikes in multiple towns and cities over water shortages, high prices and wider anger.
Iran eased foreign exchange rules on 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 on Sunday that 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.
After months of fierce rhetoric, Trump surprised observers last week when he offered to meet with Iranian President Hassan 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.
There have been rumors that Trump and Rouhani could meet in New York this month during the UN General Assembly — though Rouhani reportedly rejected US overtures for a meeting at last year’s event.
“I will meet, or not meet, it doesn’t matter — it is up to them!” Trump tweeted over the weekend.