U.S. moves to restore Iranian sanctions

The Trump administration moves to reimpose the first round of Iranian trade sanctions that had been suspended under a 2015 nuclear agreement, marking another decisive moment in the accord’s unraveling.

WASHINGTON — The United States will reimpose sanctions against Iran at midnight Monday, restoring economic penalties that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear accord and ratcheting up pressure on Tehran while worsening divides with European allies.

The sanctions are a consequence of President Donald Trump’s decision in May to withdraw from a deal that sought to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for easing pressure on the country’s shaky economy. His administration is betting that backing out will force Iran to shut down its nuclear enrichment efforts, curb its weapons program and end its support of brutal governments or uprisings in the Mideast.

In a statement, Trump again described the deal — by which other nations are still abiding — as “horrible, one sided.” He said the Iranian government “faces a choice: Either change its threatening, destabilizing behavior and reintegrate with the global economy, or continue down a path of economic isolation.”

European officials have said the Iran nuclear agreement is crucial to their national security, and international inspectors have concluded that Tehran is complying with the accord. “We are determined to protect European economic operators engaged in legitimate business with Iran,” the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement Monday. Russia and China also signed on to the 2015 deal.

But faced with a choice between the tiny Iranian market, which never lived up to expectations, and the huge U.S. market, major European companies overwhelmingly indicated they would observe the sanctions.

The new sanctions bar any transactions with Iran involving dollar bank notes, gold, precious metals, aluminum, steel, commercial passenger aircraft and coal, and they end imports into the United States of Iranian carpets and foodstuffs.

In a tweet Monday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran said the sanctions would endanger ordinary Iranians — particularly those who would feel the effects of the penalties on passenger jets.

Administration officials told reporters Monday that they wanted a change in behavior from Tehran and were not demanding a change in government. They noted the threat of new sanctions had already had an effect on the Iranian economy — including a plunge in the value of the rial, growing unemployment and increasing protests.