President Barack Obama today signed into law the latest collection of sanctions against Iran as passed by the Congress, praising them as the “toughest ever” and vowing that they would make it harder for Iran to modernize its oil sector.
The bill will punish non-US firms that do business with Iran’s oil and gas industry, and attempts to prevent Iran from importing any gasoline or helping them in an attempt to become self-sufficient in gasoline production, ostensibly to get them to abandon their civilian nuclear program.
Iran has insisted that they will not abandon their civilian program, and that they will continue to work toward gasoline self-sufficiency without international contractors. US officials have also expressed doubts that the sanctions would accomplish anything.
To that end, President Obama has promised that further measures will be taken in the future, to put even more “pressure” on Iran. The US has also threatened to attack Iran if they do not abandon this program, though President Obama also claimed he was open to future diplomacy, a comment which contradicts previous claims by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the time had passed for diplomacy.