The move is another attempt by the White House to put pressure on the Tehran. Reports say President Donald Trump wants to drown Tehran in sanctions in order to make it difficult for Democrat Joe Biden, who is projected to win the 2020 presidential election, to return the United States to the JCPOA agreement, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.
The United States has imposed another round of Iran-related sanctions, a statement released by US Treasury Department said. According to the department, the Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklisted an entity, the Shahid Meisami Group and its director, saying the group is involved in Tehran’s chemical research and is connected with the banned Iranian Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research, also known as the SNPD.
The development comes two weeks after the Treasury announced sanctions against dozens of individuals and entities. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously said that more restrictions will be imposed on the Islamic Republic in the coming weeks and months.
Biden’s Plan to Revive JCPOA and Other Ways to Pressure Iran
At the beginning of November, Axios wrote, citing two unnamed Israeli sources, that President Donald Trump wants to prevent Democrat Joe Biden from bringing the United States back into the Iran nuclear agreement, which Trump once described as the “worst deal ever”.
The accord was signed in 2015 by China, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Tehran.
Under the deal, Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions and the arms embargo.
Despite warnings and criticism from other signatories, Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018, prompting Tehran to renege on its commitments. However Biden, who is projected to win the 2020 election, signalled that he wants to revive the deal.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif signalled that Tehran will fulfil the agreement’s obligations if Washington returns to the agreement.
Sanctions are not the only option the Trump administration could use to make things difficult for Biden to revive the Iran nuclear deal. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing officials familiar with the matter, that Trump had asked his advisers about a potential military strike on an Iranian nuclear site. The newspaper writes that the president was dissuaded by his aides from attacking the Islamic Republic.
11 days after the WSJ report, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist, dubbed the father of Iran’s nuclear programme, was assassinated while he was riding in a car. Tehran blamed the attack on Israel.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
