President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran’s industrial metals and threatened further action unless Tehran “fundamentally” changed its behaviour.
An executive order issued by Trump covers Iran’s iron, steel, aluminium, and copper sectors, which represent Iran’s largest sources of revenue aside from petroleum, amounting to 10% of its export economy.
“It is also the policy of the United States to deny the Iranian government revenue, including revenue derived from the export of products from Iran’s iron, steel, aluminium, and copper sectors, that may be used to provide funding and support for the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorist groups and networks, campaigns of regional aggression, and military expansion,” said a White House statement.
Earlier, Iran said that it plans to cease “some commitments” on its nuclear deal that was agreed in 2015 alongside signatories from the US, the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia.
It came on the first anniversary of Washington’s withdrawal from landmark 2015 deal.
France called on Iran to respect its commitments to the nuclear deal and the non-proliferation treaties and warned against escalation.
Known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement was the result of almost two years of tense negotiations between world powers and was formulated to curb Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons.
Tensions were already high between the two countries after the Trump administration last weekend that said it was deploying a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East, in response to what it said were “troubling indications and warnings” from Iran.