In announcing another round of sanctions on Iran this week, the Trump administration took unprecedented steps to roll back a series of cash windfalls authorized by the Obama administration that have lined the extremist regime’s pockets and enabled it to make strides in its ballistic missile technology, according to policy experts.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it had removed sanctions on Venezuelan general Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera after he publicly broke ranks with dictator Nicolas Maduro.
A delegation of Republican House lawmakers petitioned the State Department not to continue issuing sanctions waivers that have permitted Iran to continue engaging in its lucrative oil trade, yet another salvo in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and Congress.
The infrastructure and personnel tied to Iran’s past nuclear weapons work continue to operate under the radar, according to senior Trump administration officials, who announced sanctions on a host of individuals and organizations that have worked to keep critical infrastructure of Iran’s nuclear weapons program in place.
The Treasury Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on two Chinese companies linked to illicit cargo transfers to North Korea in violation of U.S. and U.N. sanctions.
The two companies, Dalian Haibo International Freight Co. Ltd., and Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co. Ltd., helped Pyongyang evade sanctions by facilitating ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum and other acquisitions that violate sanctions.
Leading Republican senators are uniting against what they describe as a bid by some elements of the Trump administration to keep the Iran nuclear deal on life support via a package of waivers exempting Tehran and its allies from new sanctions spearheaded by President Donald Trump, according to multiple conversations with top congressional officials both on and off the record.
North Korea is covertly developing and testing nuclear arms and ballistic missiles at civilian facilities in a bid to prevent a “decapitation” military strike against its weapons plants and storage depots, according to a report by a UN panel of experts.
Additionally, the Security Council panel stated in the experts’ latest report that North Korea engaged in “massive” illegal transfers of oil and coal in violation of sanctions designed to punish Pyongyang for nuclear and missile development.
Iranian leaders are betting on the Trump administration to cave in on a key piece of its tough new sanctions aimed at choking off the Islamic Republic’s access to lucrative crude oil markets, according to multiple sources who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States imposed new sanctions on six Venezuelan security officials and revoked the visas of dozens of associates and their families with ties to President Nicolas Maduro, in the latest move to pile pressure on him to step down.
President Trump should be commended for walking away from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s proposed nuclear deal.
