Trump Announces His Response to Iran... and It's Not Pretty for the Ayatollah
President Donald Trump announced a new round of economic sanctions on Iran are taking effect Monday after its military shot down an expensive U.S. spy drone last week in what the Pentagon called an “unprovoked” attack over international waters.
Iran tried to justify military action by claiming the drone had violated its air space — a harshly disputed assertion.
Trump, who called off a retaliatory airstrike set for Friday morning that would have reportedly killed 150 Iranians, tweeted Saturday morning that instead, the U.S. government was ready to slap Iran with “major sanctions.”
In the same tweet, the president said Iran “cannot have Nuclear Weapons” and, as he’s done in the past, railed against the Obama administration for negotiating a “terrible” nuclear agreement with Iran.
Iran cannot have Nuclear Weapons! Under the terrible Obama plan, they would have been on their way to Nuclear in a short number of years, and existing verification is not acceptable. We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday. I look forward to the day that…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2019
He added that he looks forward to the day when Iran decides to play nice with the United States and the rest of the world so sanctions can be lifted and the Islamic Republic can be a “productive and prosperous nation again.”
….Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again – The sooner the better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2019
Trump signed an executive order Monday imposing the sanctions, saying, “We will continue to increase pressure on Tehran until the regime abandons its dangerous activities.”
President Trump took questions from reporters after signing an executive order imposing new economic sanctions on Iran.
VIDEO: https://t.co/D5SfY60Hrc pic.twitter.com/FWOU1NHStb— CSPAN (@cspan) June 24, 2019
NBC News reported the newly announced sanctions deny key financial resources to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his office.
When asked by reporters Saturday about the possibility of military action against Iran, Trump said that a military solution to their outbursts are “always on the table until we get this solved.” He emphasized that if the country continues on its course of provocative acts, “it’s going to be a very bad day for them.”
According to CNBC, six oil tankers and the U.S drone have been attacked since May either in or near to the Strait of Hormuz, which is a major shipping route for the world’s oil supply.
But Trump said it’s not as important to the United States to have it open because of our growing capacity to produce oil. Other countries depend on it more than the United States, giving the president major leverage over the Islamic Republic to try and control its ability to produce nuclear weapons.
Iran is sitting under a heavy strain of U.S. sanctions from previous years and likely can’t afford a new round of what the president described as “major additional sanctions.” Washington has hit over 1,000 Iranian entities with sanctions and last month banned the purchase of iron, steel, aluminum and copper from that country.
According to Cailin Birch, global economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, Iran is hurting badly.
“We can safely say that Iran’s revenue from oil has been cut by at least two-thirds, so they are in a very dangerous economic position,” Birch told CNBC on Monday.
Trump, who’s known as a master at negotiation tactics, obviously would be well aware of that and is doing everything he can to leverage that position into cutting a deal that would make the world a safer place.
For Iran’s leaders, it’s really pretty simple, if they’re able to set their pride aside for more than a few seconds. If they stop trying to advance their nuclear weapons program, dial down the threatening rhetoric and halt the unprovoked attacks on the equipment of the United States and its allies, they would eventually have sanctions lifted and would be able to enjoy a strong economy.
Or they can continue on their current path and face hostility from the entire world. It’s not going to take many more attacks or provocative actions before military action is used, which would be nothing less than devastating for the Islamic Republic.
As CNBC reported, Trump is ready to give the country yet another chance to make things right, which is commendable, as most don’t want to see another Middle East conflict.
But make no mistake, as the commander in chief told NBC in an interview, if we have to go to war with Iran, there will be “obliteration like you’ve never seen before.”
Hopefully, Iran’s leaders come to their senses and make the wise choice, because if we know anything about Trump, it’s that he does not play games.
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