Trump slaps on sanctions as Iran tension mounts
Iran imposes travel ban on US wrestlers
AFP
President Donald Trump raised the stakes in Washingtons increasingly tense stand-off with Iran on Friday, slapping fresh sanctions on Tehrans weapons procurement network, reports AFP.
Officials said the new measures were in response to Irans recent ballistic missile test and its support for Huthi rebels in Yemen, who recently targeted a Saudi warship.
The sanctions do not, officials say, mark a retreat from US commitments under the Iran nuclear deal to lift measures targeting Tehrans alleged bid to build a nuclear warhead.
But Trump has made no secret of his contempt for the accord, which his predecessor Barack Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said Fridays new measures would not be the last. Iran is playing with fire -- they dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me! Trump tweeted Friday.
US intelligence and Treasury officials are constantly scrutinizing Irans networks, looking for evidence of extremist funding and advanced weapons procurement.
The immediate trigger for the sanctions was Irans test, on Sunday, of a ballistic missile that US officials judge to have been capable of one day carrying a nuclear warhead.
But the latest detailed list of entities added to the list has clearly been in preparation for some time, and the White House has said nothing is off the table in dealing with Iran.
We are undertaking a larger strategic review, a senior US administration official told reporters. The launch of the missile was the triggering event.
Washington is also concerned about attacks by Huthi rebels, a powerful faction in Yemens civil war which US intelligence believes is armed and supported by Iran.
This week Huthi forces attacked a Saudi warship operating off Yemen and on Friday a US official said: Were very concerned about freedom of navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb area.
The senior official said Iran was not necessarily responsible for every tactical decision made by Huthi forces, but that it will be made to bear responsibility for its proxies.
The United States has already protested about Irans missile test at the United Nations, arguing it was inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
But Russia, which is allied with Iranian forces in its defense of Bashar al-Assads Syrian regime, is unlikely to allow new international sanctions to target Tehran.
US Treasury officials hope that preventing Irans networks in Lebanon and China from buying US goods or using the US financial system will curtail their activity.
Nevertheless, Trumps pronouncements on the 2015 nuclear deal, and Irans angry response that his taunts as baseless and provocative, have raised fears of an imminent showdown.
The nuclear deal obliged Iran to curtail its nuclear program and halt any weapons research in exchange for relief from US and international sanctions targeting the sector.
It was agreed between Tehran and six powers -- China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the US -- and Obamas White House hailed it as a blow against nuclear
proliferation. Trump, Israel and many US foreign policy hawks argue instead that the deal was too soft and that the windfall Iran won with sanctions relief will be funneled to terror networks. Meanwhile, Iran yesterday banned US wrestlers from participating in the Freestyle World Cup competition in response to President Donald Trumps executive order forbidding visas for Iranians, says an IRNA news agency report.
IRNA quoted Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi saying a special committee reviewed the case and Eventually the visit by the US freestyle wrestling team was opposed. The decision marks the first action taken by Iran in response to Trumps executive order.
