In an attempt to try to do even more damage to Iran’s economy, President
Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday announcing that the US is
imposing sanctions on all Iranian exports of industrial metals.
The new sanctions cover Iran’s iron, steel, aluminium, and copper
exports. The White House statement noted that this is the largest
non-oil export Iran has, and amounts to about 10% of its export economy.
The sanctions are intended to ban any country on the planet from every
buying any of these metals from Iran, and threatens sanctions if they
do. It is unclear from statements who the main purchasers of Iranian
metals are, though if alternate supplies are not available they may
simply ignore the US sanctions, as some intend to with the oil
sanctions.
President Trump’s statement threatened more “actions” against Iran
“unless it fundamentally alters its conduct.” Indications are that this
will happen at any rate, though US sanctions on Iran are already nearly
all-emcompassing, limiting how much more they can practically do to the
Iranians.
Trump Imposes New Sanctions on Iran Metal Exports
Industrial metals are Iran's largest non-oil export
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.
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