Tehran, Iran – United States President Donald Trump has quickly restarted his pressure campaign against Iran while emphasising he does not want Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.Iranian authorities have unsurprisingly signalled they do not intend to capitulate, and that the country’s official policy of not pursuing a nuclear bomb remains in place, but they have left room for dialogue.
Let’s take a look at the complex state of play almost seven years after Trump initially embarked on the path of “maximum pressure”, a policy that Tehran maintains has been a failure.
What did Trump say about Iran in the White House?
Trump claimed on Tuesday that he was reluctant – for unstated reasons – to greenlight a new pressure campaign on Iran, but nevertheless promised to drive Iranian oil sanctions to “zero”.
At the same time, he stressed that his only priority is that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Asked about alleged Iranian attempts to have him killed in retaliation for ordering the assassination of top general Qassem Soleimani in 2020, Trump said he has left instructions for Iran to be “obliterated” if he himself is taken out. Advertisement
On Tuesday, the US president signed a national security presidential memorandum to enforce his restored maximum pressure on Iran policy. The memorandum lacked many details on what “maximum pressure” would entail, but Trump hinted that the measures would be tough, saying he was “torn” and “unhappy” about signing it, and adding that he hoped “that it’s not going to have to be used in any great measure at all”.
In May 2018, during his first term in office, Trump unilaterally abandoned Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers that limited Tehran’s nuclear p …
