The United States is reportedly considering the bolstering of its sanctions against Iran as early as next month, despite growing protests in Tehran over American economic measures that have crippled the regime’s ability to cope with deadly floods raging across the Republic. According to Reuters, a Trump Administration official revealed, on condition of anonymity, that Washington “aimed to follow through with new sanctions around the first anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal,” which President Donald Trump announced last May. The official was quoted as noting that “(the U.S. Administration) wants businesses to continue to think doing business with Iran is a terrible idea at this point.” According to the report, “one of the tools the United States has employed includes sanctions on oil imports from Iran;” and noted that while Washington granted waivers to eight Iranian oil buyers, it could decide to change that, in efforts to apply additional pressure against the Ayatollah regime.
In response to this report, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States of committing what he referred to as “economic terrorism.” The Iranian top diplomat stressed that the American-applied “maximum pressure” effectively impedes “aid efforts” to all (Iranian) communities devastated by unprecedented floods. While the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to TV7’s request for comment on this report, a U.S. official previously told TV7 that “the Ayatollah regime maintains a policy of blaming everyone else for the situation that is of their own making.” He stressed that while “the United States will continue to apply pressure on the Mullah’s in Tehran” – who are the main sponsors of global terrorism – “once they change their attitude and activities, the presiding sanctions would be re-examined.”