US imposes sweeping new Iran sanctions as Security Council ignores snapback attempt
Nearly every UN Security Council member state says the United States lacks the legal authority to reimpose sanctions on Iran.
The United States imposed a raft of new sanctions on Monday targeting Iran’s Defense Ministry, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and more than two dozen other targets in an effort to enforce international sanctions that most of the United Nations Security Council says the United States is unable to unilaterally reinstate.
“Rather than wait for the day that Iran threatens the world with a nuclear weapon, the United States is again fulfilling the best traditions of American global leadership and taking responsible action,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced an executive order freezing the property of those who “contribute to the supply, sale, or transfer of conventional arms to or from Iran, as well as those who provide technical training, financial support and services, and other assistance related to these arms.”
The administration also imposed new sanctions and export control measures on 27 entities and individuals it says are connected to Iran’s proliferation networks, including targets linked to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. Maduro, whose country has repeatedly purchased gasoline from Iran in violation of US sanctions, was also blacklisted.
