President Trump called reporters into the Oval Office to announce he was signing an executive order imposing new sanctions against Iran.
Trump called the sanctions, which will target the financial resources of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, “hard-hitting.”
“We will continue to increase pressure on Tehran,” Trump said Monday. “Never can Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
He said the executive order “will deny the supreme leader and the supreme leader’s office and those closely affiliated with him and the office access to key financial resources.”
Trump said the sanctions were planned prior to Iran’s shootdown of a U.S. drone last week, although he mentioned the attack during comments to reporters.
“We do not seek conflict with Iran or any other country,” Trump said. “I can only tell you we cannot ever let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
“I think a lot of restraint has been shown by us — a lot of restraint — and that doesn’t mean we’re going to show it in the future.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Monday that the executive order strikes the core of the Iranian regime by going after Khamenei.
“The supreme leader’s office has enriched itself at the expense of the Iranian people,” Pompeo said. “It sits atop a vast network of tyranny and corruption that deprives the Iranian people of the freedom and opportunity they deserve. Today’s action denies Iran’s leadership the financial resources to spread terror and oppress the Iranian people.”
“The only path forward is for Iran to negotiate a comprehensive deal that addresses the full range of its destabilizing behaviors. Until it does, our campaign of diplomatic isolation and maximum economic pressure will continue,” he added.
Trump added later in a statement, “We call on the regime to abandon its nuclear ambitions, change its destructive behavior, respect the rights of its people, and return in good faith to the negotiating table.”
In tandem with the sanctions targeting Khamenei, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced embargoes against eight senior commanders of Navy, Aerospace, and Ground Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. A release from the Treasury Department said that the sanctions “reinforce the president’s action” on Khamenei. The State Department designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization in April.
In a Monday statement, Mnuchin said the United States is furthering its financial pressure campaign targeting multiple Iranian industries and individuals.
“The United States is targeting those responsible for effectuating the Iranian regime’s destructive influence in the Middle East,” Mnuchin said. “Treasury will continue to aggressively target the senior leaders and the financial apparatus sustaining this malign activity.”
The United States announced last week that it was sending an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East after a pair of oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman. Last month, Iran targeted four other tankers. Pompeo said at the time that the attack was an attempt to inflate global oil prices.
In addition to the troop additions, the Pentagon recently deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East.
