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Trump reportedly plans to sign order with ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran

The campaign is aimed at driving Iran's oil exports to zero, a U.S. official told "Reuters."

U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders on the first day of his second term, as Vice President JD Vance (center) looks on, Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: White House.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders on the first day of his second term, as Vice President JD Vance (center) looks on, Jan. 20, 2025. Credit: White House.

U.S. President Donald Trump intends to sign an executive order resuming a “maximum pressure” campaign on the Islamic Republic of Iran, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The order is reportedly aimed at denying the Iranian regime all paths to a nuclear weapon and countering Tehran’s malign regional influence, the official stated.

The order directs U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to impose maximum economic pressure, including via sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on those violating existing measures, per Reuters.

After Trump signs the order, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio would work with Bessent to modify or rescind existing sanction waivers to drive the Islamic regime’s oil exports to zero, the official reportedly said.

News of the executive order surfaced hours before Trump is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House, in what would be the first visit by a foreign leader since Trump began his second term.

Prior to assuming office, Trump said that he planned to renew a maximum pressure campaign on Tehran, including issuing punishing sanctions and targeting the country’s oil revenue.

During his first term in 2018, Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement with Iran and stepped up sanctions on the regime in Tehran. The deal offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for its promise to dial back its nuclear program for a maximum of 10 years.

Trump said on Jan. 23 that he hopes that Israel will not attack Tehran’s nuclear faculties but appeared to suggest that was a possibility if the Islamic Republic does not accept a deal on its nuclear program.

The New York Times reported on Monday that the Islamic regime continues to enrich uranium to 60% U-235 and currently has enough material to make four or five bombs.

Further enrichment to 90%, or military grade, would likely take only a few days, reportedly, but from there to producing a missile-ready nuclear warhead would take an estimated 12 to 18 months.

Iran now has the knowledge to make an “older-style nuclear weapon, one that could be put together far faster than the more sophisticated designs Tehran has considered in the past,” U.S. officials told the Times.

The impetus for Iran’s decision is Israel’s October 2024 attack on the Islamic Republic’s air defenses and other strategic sites, including nuclear development facilities, which left Tehran feeling vulnerable, according to the officials.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Sky News on Jan. 28 that the Islamic regime regards Trump’s second term as commander-in-chief as “different and much more difficult than the previous time.”

Iran was prepared to listen, but “lots of things should be done by the other side” for Tehran to commit to negotiating a new deal, the Iranian official stated.

Araghchi said he does not believe that the United States or Israel would attack nuclear facilities, calling the idea “really crazy” and “not a real threat.”

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