The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed new Iran-related sanctions, a day before US and Iranian officials will meet for another round of talks in Geneva amid the major US military buildup in the Middle East.
The Treasury Department said that it imposed sanctions on more than 30 sanctions on individuals, entities, and vessels accused of transporting oil for Iran or enabling the country’s ballistic missile program, and that it was continuing the so-called “maximum pressure campaign.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the administration “will continue to put maximum pressure on Iran to target the regime’s weapons capabilities and support for terrorism, which it has prioritized over the lives of the Iranian people.”
Bessent recently boasted that the administration’s sanctions on Iran were responsible for crushing the country’s economy and sparking the protests and unrest that began inside the country at the end of December.
“At the Treasury, what we have done is created a dollar shortage in the country … It came to a swift and, I would say, grand culmination in December, when one of the largest banks in Iran went under. There was a run on the bank,” Bessent told a Senate panel earlier this month.
“The central bank had to print money, the Iranian currency went into free fall, inflation exploded, and hence we have seen the Iranian people out on the street,” he added.
It’s unclear if there will be progress in the talks on Thursday since the US continues to demand zero uranium enrichment, a condition Tehran has made clear is a non-starter, though it has reportedly offered to suspend its enrichment for three to five years and restart it at a low level as part of a regional consortium. Some reports suggest the US may go for a deal that allows “token” enrichment, but publicly, Trump officials continue to insist on zero enrichment.
In the meantime, the US has continued its major military buildup, and President Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached.
