The US government's sanctions against Iran, touted as the “toughest ever” by the Donald Trump administration, go into effect on Monday. The sanctions are designed to target Iranian oil exports and the country's financial sector in a bid to push Tehran to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme and its sponsorship of militant groups.
The sanctions are aimed at dissuading third countries from doing business with Iran. While the US government has issued waivers to eight nations, including India, multiple European countries and Japan and South Korea have already stopped purchases of Iranian oil.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted the US would continue to put pressure on India and China to stop all oil purchases from Iran. Pompeo told reporters, “Watch as we've already taken more crude oil off the market than any time in previous history.” Iranian oil exports have fallen by nearly a million barrels a day since President Donald Trump announced his government was reimposing sanctions and withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal in May.
European companies such as Airbus, Total and Daimler have announced they are quitting the Iranian market after the Trump administration announced the re-imposition of sanctions.
Meanwhile, Pompeo tweeted about the 39th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran by Islamic Revolution supporters in 1979. Pompeo's tweet evoked curiosity on whether date of the re-imposition of sanctions was timed to coincide with the embassy hostage crisis, which has been considered a watershed moment in US foreign policy since the Second World War. The embassy hostage crisis, which saw a failed military rescue attempt, doomed the re-election bid of then US president Jimmy Carter.
Thousands of Iranians celebrated the embassy hostage crisis anniversary as the Iranian government attempted to project an image of defiance.
(With agency inputs)
