TRUMP: DON’T TRADE WITH IRAN

Anger, fear, defiance as US president slaps ‘most biting sanctions ever’ on Teheran

UNITED States President Donald Trump warned countries against doing business with Iran yesterday as he hailed the “most biting sanctions ever imposed”, triggering a mix of anger, fear and defiance here.

“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,” Trump wrote in a morning tweet.

“Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the US. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less.”

Within hours of the sanctions taking effect, German automaker Daimler said it was halting its business activities in Iran.

Trump’s withdrawal from a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement in May had spooked investors and triggered a run on the Iranian rial long before nuclear-related sanctions went back into force.

“I feel like my life is being destroyed. Sanctions are already badly affecting people’s lives. I can’t afford to buy food, pay the rent,” said a construction worker on the streets of the capital here.

The sanctions reimposed yesterday — targeting access to US banknotes and key industries such as cars and carpets — were unlikely to cause economic turmoil. Iran’s markets were actually relatively buoyant, with the rial strengthening by 20 per cent since Sunday after the government relaxed foreign exchange rules and allowed unlimited, taxfree gold and currency imports.

But the second tranche on Nov 5 covering Iran’s vital oil sector could be far more damaging — even if key customers, such as China, India and Turkey, refused to cut their purchases.

In a statement on Monday before the sanctions were reimposed, Trump said: “The Iranian regime faces a choice.

But his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, dismissed the idea of talks while crippling sanctions were in effect.

“If you’re an enemy and you stab the other person with a knife, and then you say you want negotiations, then the first thing you have to do is remove the knife,” he told state television.

European governments were infuriated by Trump’s strategy, which left their businesses in Iran faced with the threat of US legal penalties.