Trump admin plans flood of sanctions on Iran by Jan 20: Report

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SME Times News Bureau | 09 Nov, 2020
US President Donald Trump's administration is planning to impose a "flood of sanctions" on Iran by January 20, 2021, after it recently recently targeted the Islamic Republic's oil and financial sectors, a media report said.

The administration, in coordination with Israel and several Gulf states, is pushing for the new sanctions, informed Israeli sources told the Virginia-based Axios media outlet on Sunday.

According to the sources, US envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Israel on Sunday and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the plan.

On Monday, Abrams will meet Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to brief them on the proposal, the sources told Axios.

After Israel, the envoy is scheduled to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to discuss the sanctions plan.

The development comes several days after Abrams said at a closed briefing that the Trump administration wants to announce a new set of sanctions on Iran every week until January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the new American President, another informed source told Axios.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to arrive in Israel on November 18.

On October 8, the US designated 18 major banks of Iran, and a few days later on October 22, new sanctions were imposed on five Iranian entities for "attempting to influence" the November 3 American presidential election.

On October 27, the US imposed fresh sanctions against the Iranian oil sector, for its "financial support" to Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.