TRUMP HITS ‘MALIGN’ TEHRAN WITH NEW SANCTIONS
Bans placed for ballistic missiles, drones and international crimes
The Trump government is imposing new sanctions on Iranian people and companies it says are involved in Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, acquiring drones and in international criminal conspiracies.
The move came hours after the White House grudgingly said Iran was complying with a deal to dismantle its nuclear programme but was breaching its spirit by continuing to destabilise the Middle East.
Yesterday morning the state department said it was blacklisting two groups linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – the Aerospace Force Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organisation and the Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organisation – for their roles in developing ballistic missiles.
And the US treasury department said it was targeting 16 companies and people for supporting “illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity”.
“This administration will continue to aggressively target Iran’s malign activity, including their ongoing state support of terrorism, ballistic missile programme and human rights abuses,” treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
“These sanctions target procurement of advanced military hardware, such as fast attack boats and unmanned aerial vehicles, and send a strong signal that the US cannot and will not tolerate Iran’s provocative and destabilising behaviour.”
The state department also demanded the release of Americans detained in Iran, including Xiyue Wang, a Princeton graduate student this week sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying.
Donald Trump has been an outspoken critic of the nuclear deal with Iran, which he says was not tough enough, but he knows he cannot walk away from it.
As a result, his White House has offered reluctant certification of the deal accompanied by harsh words and sanctions.
Jim Phillips, Middle East analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the latest sanctions were symbolic, designed to ensure that certification was not interpreted as a green light for Iranian aggression.
“They are a signal that the administration remains determined to push back on Iran on regional issues – its aggressive policies in Syria and Yemen, as well as support of terrorism,” Mr Phillips said. “The administration sees that as very important.”
He said a more decisive move might be made on the next renewal date in 90 days after the White House completes its review of its Iran strategy.
That could even include refusing to say that Iran was complying with the deal.
For now, an unsteady balance remains. On Monday night the Trump government waited until almost the last moment to formally notify congress that Tehran had kept its side of the bargain.
The 11th-hour notification day highlighted unhappiness at the highest level.
Talking points sent to sympathetic policy experts were suddenly recalled, and a briefing for journalists was postponed before going ahead on condition that nothing was reported until congress had been told of the White House decision.
That finally arrived a little over an hour before the midnight cut-off.
But officials said that although
Iran was abiding by the terms of the nuclear deal, which established the joint comprehensive plan of action last year, it remained a threat to regional stability.
They listed concerns including testing of ballistic missiles, support for Syria, backing for terrorist groups and threats to Gulf waterways.
“As a result, the president, the secretary of state and the entire administration judge that Iran is unquestionably in default of the spirit of the plan of action,” said one official.
The deal between Iran and the US, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany aims to stop Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.
It lifted economic sanctions in return for Iran reducing the number of gas centrifuges and limiting its stockpiles of enriched uranium.
Under its terms, the administration is required to notify Congress of Tehran’s compliance every 90 days.
Hours before the latest certification, Mr Trump’s spokesman said the president remained unconvinced by the deal.
“I think you all know that the president has made very clear that he thought this was a bad deal – a bad deal for the United States,” Sean Spicer said.
The New York Times reported that the president took plenty of convincing to sign off on Iran’s compliance.
An official said Mr Trump spent 55 minutes of a onehour meeting last week telling his secretary of state, defence secretary, national security adviser and others that he did not want to go ahead with the certification.
The air of uncertainty was echoed by Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, earlier on Monday evening. He addressed the Council on Foreign Relations in New York where he said Iran had received “contradictory signals” from the US.
Mr Zarif said he had yet to speak to US secretary of state Rex Tillerson.
“It’s not like the situation with the previous administration, where probably secretary Kerry and I spent more time with each other than we spent with anybody else,” he said.
The air of uncertainty was echoed by foreign minister Javad Zarif, who said Iran had received ‘contradictory signals’ from the US