WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday,targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other seniorIranian officials with financial sanctions.
Trump’s fresh executive order targets senior military figures in Iran,blocking their access to any financial assets under US jurisdiction andcame as a surprise to many.
“These measures represent a strong and proportionate response to Iran’sincreasingly provocative actions,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The tycoon-turned-president elaborated that Washington would continue toramp up pressure on Tehran until the regime abandons its ‘dangerousactivities and its aspirations, including the pursuit of nuclear weapons,increased enrichment of uranium, development of ballistic missiles,engagement and support for terrorism, fuelling of foreign conflicts andbelligerent acts directed against the United States and its allies.’
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The executive order stated the sanctions are “in light of the actions ofthe government of Iran and Iranian-backed proxies, particularly those takento destabilize the Middle East, promote international terrorism, andadvance Iran’s ballistic missile program, and Iran’s irresponsible andprovocative actions in and over international waters, including thetargeting of United States military assets and civilian vessels.”
The US Treasury Department said eight senior Iranian commanders who “sitatop a bureaucracy that supervises the IRGC’s [the elite Islamic RevolutionGuard Corps] malicious regional activities”, were being targeted.
