President Donald Trump is set to announce a new set of sanctions this week against the Iranian economy in an attempt to increase its campaign of economic pressure on Tehran and isolate its regime as long as its nuclear ambitions continue, Axios reports.
The report comes two days after the Trump administration banned all Iranian oil purchases after May 1, ending exemptions for eight nations, including China, India, South Korea, Japan and Turkey.
"The decisions today enhance our ability to constrain Iran's nuclear program while pursuing maximum economic pressure," Brian Hook, the State Department special representative on Iran, told CNN Friday.
National Security Adviser John Bolton has pushed for tighter sanctions on Iran, while others at the State Department have called for less dramatic measures.
Trump last May withdrew the United States from the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers, and soon after reimposed economic sanctions on the country to drive change within President Hassan Rouhani’s regime.
"We are looking at the region from Yemen to Syria and the regime using the resources they got from the [nuclear deal] to spread human misery across the region instead of spending on its people at home," a senior administration official told NBC News last August. "We can have no further illusions about their intent."
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