Trump Announces Iran Sanctions

President Trump said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would alert the UN Security Council about the United States’ decision to reimpose sanctions against Iran at a press conference Wednesday.

“Today, I am directing the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to notify the UN Security Council that the United States intends to restore virtually all of the previously suspended United Nations sanctions on Iran,” Trump said during the press conference. “It’s a snapback. Not uncommon.”

“Two years ago I withdrew the United States from the disastrous Iran Nuclear Deal, which was a product of the Obama-Biden foreign policy failure, a failure like few people have seen in terms of the amount of money we’ve paid for absolutely nothing in a short-term deal,” the president explained. “This deal funneled tens of billions of dollars to Iran – $150 billion to be exact – plus $1.8 billion in cash, which I don’t know that the president had the authority to do, but gave $1.8 billion in cash. Just another great deal that turned out to be a total disaster.”

Under the “snapback” process outlined in the 2015 nuclear deal, once the US submits its complaint, the council has 30 days to vote on a resolution to continue Iran’s sanctions relief, a move the US could then veto. If a resolution is not adopted, UN sanctions that were eased in return for constraints on Iran’s nuclear program would be snapped back into place, killing the Iran nuclear deal.