The Trump administration is open to allowing some countries to continue importing Iranian oil, despite promises to tighten the screws on Tehran and any country that continues doing business with the Islamic Republic, according to U.S. officials who confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that some nations may get a temporary pass from a cadre of new sanctions set to be imposed next month.
International businesses across the United States and Europe are making a beeline to exit the Iranian marketplace ahead of the reimposition of harsh U.S. sanctions that Trump administration officials have been warning will target any company that defies America’s call to cut ties with the Islamic Republic, according to multiple U.S. officials briefed on closed-door meetings held over the past months.
The Trump administration on Friday sanctioned a Thai company found to be aiding an Iranian airline that is transporting terrorists and other aid to Syria on behalf of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump administration against Russia have cost the Kremlin an estimated “tens of billions of dollars,” a senior State Department official told Congress on Thursday.
U.S. sanctions are having a strong effect on Iran’s economy and popular opinion, though regime change there is not part of Washington’s policy, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said on Wednesday.
The Trump administration will take action against an Iranian ship that has been stationed at a key choke point in the Red Sea for months and is believed to be providing significant military aid to terrorist forces in Yemen, according to U.S. officials and military experts familiar with the situation.
The Trump administration on Wednesday ordered new sanctions on Russia after determining that Moscow used a nerve agent in an attack on a former Soviet spy and his daughter who are now British citizens.
The use of chemical or biological weapons, which is a violation of international law, triggers sanctions under U.S. law. Washington had previously expelled roughly 60 Russia diplomats in response to a nerve-agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal.
Washington said on Wednesday it would impose fresh sanctions on Russia after it determined that Moscow had used a nerve agent against a former Russian agent and his daughter in Britain.
The first round of U.S. sanctions reinstated against Iran this week makes clear to the Islamic Republic the Trump administration’s willingness to financially squeeze the regime until it curbs its destabilizing behavior, according to regional experts.
