After sanctions, Trump warns Iran trade partners
Russia vows to save nuclear deal, protect interests
WASHINGTON : President Donald Trump warned that those who do business with Iran will not be doing business with America, hours after the first round of US sanctions against the country went into effect on Tuesday.
US has reimposed sanctions targeting Iran’s automotive sector, trade in metals such as gold, and pistachio exports. A more punishing round is scheduled to go into effect in November, aimed at forcing Teheran to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Trump walked out in May.
“The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
Tehran condemned the reimposition of the sanctions, with President Hassan Rouhani saying there will be no talks as long as the curbs are in place. “If you stab someone with a knife and then you say you want talks, then the first thing you have to do is remove the knife,” he said in a televised address.
“They want to launch psychological warfare against the Iranian nation. Negotiations with sanctions doesn’t make sense.”
Rouhani said Trump’s call for direct talks is only for domestic consumption in America ahead of elections and to create chaos in Iran. While ratcheting up the rhetoric on Iran, Trump has said he was willing to meet and talk with the Iranian leadership and there have been reports he could meet Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly meetings in September.
In a statement on Monday, the US president had said he was open to a “comprehensive deal” that addresses “the full range of the regime’s malign activities, including its ballistic missile programme and its support for terrorism”.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015 by US, UK, Russia France, China and Germany with Iran had ended UN sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported Iran has been in compliance with the nuclear deal. Trump called it the worst deal ever signed, and withdrew the US from it, disregarding appeals from allies Germany, France and Britain.
The European allies continue be in dispute with the US and said in a joint statement on Monday the “JCPOA is working and delivering on its goal”. Russia on Tuesday said it was “deeply disappointed” by Trump’s decision. The Russian foreign ministry said it will do “everything necessary” to save the 2015 deal and protect its shared economic interests with Tehran.