Trump unveils new sanctions targeting Iran’s national bank
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President Donald Trump on Friday shared details of his administration’s newest sanctions on Iran, aimed at targeting the Iran’s national bank. The sanctions are linked to Tehran’s alleged involvement in a series of drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities last weekend.
POLITICO reports that “Trump claimed they would be the “highest sanctions ever imposed on a country,” telling reporters in the Oval Office that the penalties would go “right to the top” of the Iranian government.”
Earlier, Trump during a bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.”You will be seeing certain things happening but a very major factor is what we did. The highest sanctions ever imposed on a country. We’ve never done it to this level.”
POLITICO reports that the latest sanctions layer on top of a slew of other penalties the Trump administration has imposed and reimposed as a result of Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and other world powers. The existing sanctions have already targeted Iran’s oil exports, its metal and mining industries and its ability to receive financing from international banks. Tehran has repeatedly likened the sanctions to “economic warfare.”
The new sanctions will affect “the last remaining source of funds for both the central bank of Iran, as well as the national development fund — which is their sovereign wealth fund,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters Friday. “This is very big — we’ve now cut off all source of funds to Iran.”
