Trump Plans New Sanctions Against Iran Over Missile Test

Officials Say New Sanctions Wouldn't Violate Nuclear Deal

Officials say that President Trump intends to impose new sanctions on Iran over last week’s missile test, with the announcement expected to come as soon as Friday. This follows comments yesterday by several administration officials threatening action against Iran, which might include military action.

Details of the new sanctions are still scant, and officials quoted by NBC News said nothing was final until Trump actually signed it. They did, however, insist the new sanctions would be of the form already in effect and would not violate the P5+1 nuclear deal.

That’s going to be a tough case to make, however, as the ban the US is accusing Iran of violating is on ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which very much makes this a nuclear-related matter, moreso because Iran disputes this assessment, and insists the design was not capable of carrying such warheads.

Trump began ratcheting up the rhetoric this morning on Twitter, insisting Iran “should have been thankful” for the nuclear deal and not done the test. Trump also repeated the false claim, favored during his campaign, that the US “gave” Iran $150 billion as part of the deal, saying Iran was on the brink of collapse before that.

Trump also told reporters later this afternoon that “nothing is off the table” with respect to Iran, responding to a question about attacking Iran outright over the missile test. He did not elaborate further.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.