Trump: Iran sanctions will ‘soon be increased substantially’

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Sanctions against Iran will “soon be increased substantially” US President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday morning, days after Tehran announced it had broken the limit on uranium enrichment imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal.

Following the president's remarks, Iran's envoy to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told reporters no country can be expected to negotiate “with a gun to its chest”.

In an early morning tweet, Trump slammed the nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama and threatened further sanctions on Iran.

“Iran has long been secretly ‘enriching’, in total violation of the terrible 150 Billion Dollar deal made by John Kerry and the Obama Administration,” Trump tweeted.

“Remember, that deal was to expire in a short number of years. Sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!”



The US withdrew from the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018, claiming it did not go far enough to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran’s decision to increase its stockpiles and enrichment in contravention of the landmark accord comes on the heels of rising tensions in the Persian Gulf following the downing a US Navy reconnaissance drone by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace division and several attacks on tankers in the strategic waterway blamed on Iran.

The incidents prompted Trump to impose sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and a number of IRGC commanders.

The US has imposed one of its toughest sanction regimes on Iran as part of a “campaign of maximum financial pressure” primarily targeting Iran’s oil and banking industries.

US-imposed sanctions have dealt a massive blow to Iran’s economy. The national currency has lost around 70 percent of its value, and rates of unemployment and inflation have skyrocketed.

Speaking after talks in the Austrian capital Vienna on Wednesday, Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Kazem Gharib Abadi accused the US of stoking tensions while simultaneously calling for negotiations.

“No country is ready to negotiate with a country that is putting a gun to its chest,” Abadi told reporters.

“So America is maximizing the pressure, extending the areas of sanctions on a daily basis, and simultaneously requesting and claiming I am ready to negotiate with Iran. So what kind of negotiations is it going to be?” he said. 

“So I think that for the United States to show its wisdom and also to prove that what it has said regarding negotiations is not only a claim and is a reality in fact, they have to lift all the sanctions, and after that the environment will be changed,” he added. 

This is a developing story...