David Jackson and Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY,
USA TODAY•
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration announced new sanctions on Iran Friday, while offering new explanations behind the killing of an Iranian general – a pivotal move in a series of escalating actions that nearly brought the two nations to the brink of war.
"The president has been very clear: we will continue to apply economic sanctions until Iran stops its terrorist activities and commit that it will never have nuclear weapons," Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said.
The new penalties affect segments of Iranian industry, including construction, manufacturing, textiles, mining, steel and iron. Other sanctions target specific Iranian officials.
While announcing the sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also altered his explanation of why the U.S. launched the deadly drone attack on Qasem Soleimani, a powerful Iranian general.
Pompeo and other Trump administration have given conflicting statements about how “imminent” the threat was from Soleimani – a critical question because it undergirds the administration's legal justification for killing the Iranian general without notifying Congress.
Hours after the U.S. strike, Pompeo told CNN the Iranian general was planning an "imminent" attack, one that "would have put dozens if not hundreds of American lives at risk."
On Wednesday, however, Pompeo seemed to step back from that claim, citing Soleimani's history of attacks on Americans as justification for the attack. On Thursday, he seemed to retreat even further, telling Fox News that "we don’t know precisely when and we don’t know precisely where, but it was real."
During Friday's sanctions news conference at the White House, Pompeo was asked for his definition of “imminent," and responded: “This was gonna happen, and American lives were at risk.”
Democrats in Congress have raised questions about Pompeo’s assertions, and Trump’s national security team did not present evidence of an imminent threat during a classified briefing on Wednesday.
“I believe it’s because it doesn’t exist,” said Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Speaking at a foreign policy forum on Thursday, Murphy said that "it is generally accepted that any administration can engage in a military attack against a foreign power or non-state power as long as they can prove that an attack was imminent."
Other critics have also questioned the legality of a strike against an official from another country.
Other new sanctions announced Friday target eight senior Iranian officials whom the administration said were involved in this week's ballistic missile strikes against bases in Iraq that house U.S. and coalition troops. Pompeo said the target of the penalties is Iran's "inner security apparatus."
President Donald Trump
Previewing the sanctions on Thursday, Trump said existing ones "were very severe, but now it's increased substantially."
The announcement of new sanctions is the latest in a series of attacks and responses between the United States and Iran within the last month.
They included an attack by an Iranian-based militia that killed a U.S. contractor working in Iraq, as well as Trump's decision to authorize a drone strike that killed Soleimani.
Critics said Trump essentially triggered the latest confrontation by withdrawing the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, in which the U.S. and allies reduced sanctions on Tehran as it gave up the means to make nuclear weapons.
Now Iran says it will revive certain nuclear programs, even in the face of new U.S. sanctions and threats. Specifically, Iran said it would no longer abide by any and all "operational restrictions" on its enrichment of uranium, a key part of the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord that prevented Iran from acquiring sufficient material to build a nuclear bomb.
Vowing to stop Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Pompeo said: "We want Iran to simply behave like a normal nation."
The sanctions announcement came amid a flurry of news regarding Trump and Iran:
– The Democratic-led House of Representatives passed a resolution designed to limit Trump's ability to wage war against Iran.
– Iraq Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi reportedly told Pompeo to send a delegation to his country to develop a plan for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq.
– Iranian leaders denied that they accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jet that crashed after taking off from Tehran this week. Iran has also asked American and Canadian investigators to share any information they may have on the crash.
During the White House briefing, Mnuchin said he would approve waivers on any sanctions if they can help Iran with the investigation of the plane crash.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump administration to announce new economic sanctions on Iran
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