Report: Trump administration to ramp up pressure on Iran before end of term
Elliott Abrams, the US Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela, met on Sunday in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Special envoy Elliott Abrams (R), PM Netanyahu (C) and US Ambassador Friedman. (Matty Stern/US Embassy Jerusalem)
They were joined by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
According to reports, President Donald Trump is promoting with Israel a series of sanctions on Iran that will be announced every week and that will make it difficult for President-elect Joe Biden to return to the nuclear deal with Iran, as he declared during his campaign.
The reposts say that the outgoing administration, in coordination with Israel and the Gulf states, has prepared a list of targets in Iran that will be sanctioned every week until Biden takes office in January.
The targets included entities involved in terrorism, missile development and human rights violations but not the nuclear project, so that they are not removed by Biden ahead of the renewed nuclear deal.
The Trump administration and the Israeli government assume it will be difficult for Biden to lift sanctions of this kind, and so some of the pressure on Iran will be maintained, even if other sanctions are lifted.
In such a situation, it will be more difficult for the Biden administration to promote a renewed nuclear agreement with the Iranians, according to the assessment.
Trump’s envoy, Abrams, discussed the plan with Netanyahu, and Secretary of State Pompeo Mile will arrive in Jerusalem next week, the reports say.
TPS
I watch a documentary last week on Iran hosted by Joanna Lumley and the place seemed modern and beautiful. The ordinary people seemed happy and no alcohol and drugs either. Of course onw does not want to annoy the government politically but most people want a safe and quiet life in any country including Iran. I have a friend who visits Iran every few years to see her relatives and check out a flat there she owns too.