The Trump administration said the sanctions relief was always contingent on Iranian conduct.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The United States has reinstated sanctions on Iranian oil, ending temporary sanctions relief after commercial vessels were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz as negotiations with Tehran remain on hold.

A US official said the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control will revoke sanctions waivers that had been granted under a 60-day ceasefire linked to negotiations over the regional conflict.

The talks have been suspended for one week while Iran holds funeral ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The administration said the sanctions relief was always contingent on Iranian conduct.

“As President Trump and the administration have repeatedly affirmed, the MoU in effect with Iran is entirely performance-based. Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behavior,” the official said.

“Iran’s actions in the Strait were wholly unacceptable to the United States and will be met with consequences. Our negotiators continue to work in good faith towards a final deal,” the official added.

The decision followed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tuesday.

A US official told Axios that Iranian missiles struck two merchant vessels. Iranian state television, citing sources, reported that Tehran attacked at least one liquefied natural gas tanker after it allegedly ignored Iranian warnings.

One of the vessels identified was the Al Rekayyat, a liquefied natural gas tanker owned by Qatar. The Wall Street Journal reported that the vessel’s engine room was hit, causing a fire. No casualties were reported.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said the tanker was struck on its port side while sailing southbound approximately 8 nautical miles (15 kilometers) east of Limah early Tuesday. It said the attack caused a fire but resulted in no reported casualties or environmental damage.

Before the reported strikes, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had issued maritime warnings advising that its missiles and drones were prepared to fire.

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A senior U.S. official said Tuesday that the sanctions relief would not be unlimited.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The United States plans to allow Iran to immediately resume oil and fuel exports to international markets under the emerging agreement to end the war, providing Tehran with early economic relief as part of the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The report said sanctions waivers covering Iranian oil sales are expected to take effect as soon as the agreement is signed, a step anticipated to occur on Friday.

Sources familiar with the understandings told the newspaper that Washington views the measure as an incentive for Iran to complete the agreement and move toward ending the conflict.

In addition to permitting oil and fuel exports, the agreement is expected to include exemptions from sanctions affecting banking, transportation and insurance services tied to the energy trade.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the relief package would extend beyond oil sales themselves and cover the broader infrastructure required to conduct those transactions.

Sources cited by the newspaper said the authorization would apply to financial systems, shipping services and cargo insurance needed to market Iranian oil globally.

A senior U.S. official said Tuesday that the sanctions relief would not be unlimited.

While Iran would receive immediate easing of restrictions on oil sales, future relief would depend on Tehran meeting a series of U.S. requirements.

Those conditions include issues related to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program, the official said.

The official also stated that Iran would not receive immediate access to billions of dollars in frozen assets held around the world.

The reported arrangement would represent a significant shift from the “maximum pressure” policy the United States has maintained toward Iran for years.

U.S. sanctions have limited Tehran’s ability to sell oil internationally and reduced state revenues.

Under the proposal, according to reports, Iran would gain immediate access to global energy markets, while broader economic benefits would remain tied to compliance with U.S. demands.

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You cannot verify your way out of a regime whose entire purpose is the bomb, the proxies, and a chokehold on the Gulf.

By Gregg Roman, Middle East Forum

President Donald Trump did what three predecessors refused to do. He hit the Islamic Republic with everything America had, and he meant it.

Operation Epic Fury shattered Iran’s war machine, killed its supreme leader, and forced a regime that spent four decades exporting terror to beg for a ceasefire.

Give the president his due: He showed grit, he put fire where his words were, and on the battlefield he won.

Now read the deal he won, because the kinetic phase is over and the document tells a different story.

The agreement ends the shooting and reopens the oil flow today. It defers everything that matters to a sixty-day negotiation: the enriched uranium, the missiles, the proxies, the inspections.

Washington calls the Strait of Hormuz “permanently toll-free.” Iran never charged a toll before the war, so the president takes a victory lap for restoring a status quo we already held.

On uranium enrichment, the whole ballgame, the deal does not end the program. It pauses for fifteen or twenty years, then promises more talks.

Iran’s missiles stay. Its proxies (Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iraqi militias) stay off the agenda. Israel, which fought the war, never won a seat at the table.

The money flows the wrong way, too. The text unfreezes $24 billion, half of it before the nuclear talks begin. That is cash to a regime that just lost its supreme leader, fights over his succession, and watches its own people fill the streets against their negotiators.

We have run this experiment before. In 1981 we handed Tehran billions of dollars and a non-intervention pledge.

In 2015 we handed it $100 billion and watched the limits sunset. In 2023 we wired $6 billion and called it diplomacy.

Every time, the relief held and the constraints expired. This deal front-loads everything Iran wanted.

Here is the truth: no signing ceremony changes, and it carries no insult to the campaign: no agreement, not this one and not a better one, can permanently guarantee that Iran never builds a bomb.

You cannot verify your way out of a regime whose entire purpose is the bomb, the proxies, and a chokehold on the Gulf.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s own director calls an unverified deal an “illusion.” Paper buys time. It does not buy a guarantee.

So the conclusion writes itself. The military chapter closed this week, and Trump closed it. Only a different government in Tehran permanently defangs Iran.

Say it plainly: Regime change is the recipe of the day.

The decisive weapon already exists, and we have barely used it: the Iranian people. This regime sits weaker than at any point since 1979.

Its economy collapses, rivals scramble for its throne, and its citizens have shown the world, twice in four years, that they want it gone.

They rose in 2022 over a murdered young woman, and a generation since has rejected the clerics who rule it. The blockade and the strikes cracked the structure open.

The job now is to finish it, not to rescue the regime from its own population with a wire transfer.

This next phase belongs to the region, not to Washington. The bombs did their work; the permanent work is political.

America keeps its interest, but the lead passes to Jerusalem. Israel and its regional allies should reach out to every faction, inside Iran and across the Gulf, that shares the single goal of a free Iran and wage that campaign with influence, information, and patience.

Fund the strikers and the unions, the satellite channels and the students. Strangle the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ finances and drag its front companies into the daylight where sanctions can find them.

No more bombing runs. The instruments now are the Iranian people, a coordinated regional strategy, and the oldest tools of statecraft.

Trump put fire where his words were and broke the Iranian military. That was the hard part, and he delivered it.

He should not now spend that victory underwriting the survival of the men he just beat. Hold the relief until Tehran earns it, keep the Strait open on American terms, and back the Iranians who want what we want.

Wars end with a verified outcome, not a roadmap and a wire transfer. This one is not over. It has passed to the people best positioned to win it and to the region that must help them.

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Trump assured Netanyahu that he would not sign a final agreement unless Iran dismantles its nuclear enrichment facilities.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Senior Trump administration officials said Sunday that the United States was prepared to offer Iran substantial sanctions relief if Tehran agrees to major concessions on enriched uranium as negotiations continue over a memorandum of understanding aimed at extending the ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

A senior administration official told Fox News that Washington was seeking an agreement to address Iran’s stockpile of enriched material and said Iranian negotiators had shown increased flexibility.

“Our plan is to deal with all of their stockpile of the enriched material,” the official said. “We see the Iranians making some serious accommodations on these questions that we didn’t see before.”

“If the Iranians make significant accommodations on the enrichment question then we will make significant accommodations on sanctions relief,” the official continued.

The official also rejected reports that an agreement could be signed Sunday, saying Tehran’s political system “does not move fast enough.”

“Even in the IRGC’s own propaganda, they did not talk about tolling the Strait of Hormuz. Our position is quite clear. We don’t think that a toll is an acceptable outcome,” the official added.

Under the memorandum of understanding being discussed, the ceasefire would be extended for 60 days and Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz while the United States would end its naval blockade.

During the 60-day period, the United States would discuss lifting sanctions against Iran while American troops would remain in the region until negotiations conclude.

According to Kan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned about two elements of the proposed arrangement: a requirement to end military operations against Lebanon and delaying substantive discussions over Iran’s nuclear program until a second phase of negotiations.

On Sunday, President Trump assured Netanyahu that Iran’s nuclear program would remain part of future negotiations and said he would not sign a final agreement unless Iran dismantles its nuclear enrichment facilities and removes its enriched material.

A senior Trump administration official also told CBS on Sunday morning that Iran had agreed in principle to dispose of highly enriched uranium, although the official said a deal was unlikely to be signed this weekend.

The official said the administration viewed the proposed arrangement as stronger than the 2015 agreement reached under former President Barack Obama, which permitted Iran to enrich uranium up to a certain level.

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President Trump downplays decision to extend ceasefire, says time is on America’s side as Iranian economy is throttled by US blockade.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The Iranian regime is increasingly unable to meet its financial obligations, including payments to soldiers and police officers, President Donald Trump said overnight.

In a post published to his Truth Social account just after midnight on Wednesday, Trump wrote that the American blockade on Iran has left the Islamic Republic on the verge of financial collapse.

“Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately- Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid,” Trump wrote.

The comments came hours after Trump announced that he had agreed to extend the ceasefire with Iran, while maintaining the blockade.

In a pair of posts Tuesday night, the president downplayed the significance of the extension, while pushing back on accusations that the decision was a strategic victory for Iran and a sign that Tehran had outmaneuvered the US.

“Iran doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed, they want it open so they can make $500 Million Dollars a day (which is, therefore, what they are losing if it is closed!),” Trump wrote.

“They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to ‘save face.’ People approached me four days ago, saying, ‘Sir, Iran wants to open up the Strait, immediately.’”

Trump added that without the blockade, the US would be forced to “blow up” Iran.

“But if we do that, there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!”

The president mocked a Wall Street Journal opinion piece entitled “The Iranians Take Trump for a Sucker.”

“Really?” Trump wrote, calling author Elliot Kaufman “an idiot.”

:For 47 years, they have killed our people, and many others, and taken advantage of every President, except me — And what did I give to them, a Country in tatters! Their entire Navy is at the bottom of the Sea, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar is wiped out, their Nuclear Labs and Storage Areas were OBLITERATED.”

“The Strait of Hormuz is BLOCKADED and totally controlled by the U.S., with no Ships allowed to go to Iranian Ports — It is said that they are losing 500 Million Dollars a day because of … But despite all of this, I have a MORON on the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal writing about me being taken for a ‘sucker.’”

“Iran certainly doesn’t think so!”

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US Treasury Department sanctions Iran’s weapon suppliers in Turkey, the UAE, and inside of Iran, while also crackdown on funding of pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on 14 individuals, entities and aircraft tied to Iranian weapons procurement and transport networks, in what the Treasury Department said was part of its broader “Economic Fury” campaign against Tehran.

The Treasury Department said that the targets, based in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, were involved in acquiring or moving weapons and components for the Iranian regime.

In a statement, the Department said the move was aimed at disrupting Iran’s efforts to rebuild military capacity as Washington and its allies work to reduce the regime’s missile stockpiles.

The department said Iran has increasingly relied on Shahed-series attack drones to strike the United States and its allies, including regional energy infrastructure.

“The Iranian regime must be held accountable for its extortion of global energy markets and indiscriminate targeting of civilians with missiles and drones,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, as part of Economic Fury, Treasury will continue to follow the money and target the Iranian regime’s recklessness and those who enable it.”

The Treasury Department said part of the action targeted a procurement network tied to Iran-based Pishgam Electronic Safeh Company, or PESC, which it said had obtained thousands of servomotors later found in downed Shahed-136 drones for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization.

Three men were designated for allegedly helping finance, route or receive those shipments through third-country accounts and a Dubai-linked address.

Another part of the package focused on materials used in ballistic missile production.

The Treasury Department designated Turkey-based Emti Fiber Textile Import Export Trade Limited Company, saying it had completed hundreds of shipments of cotton linters to an Iran-linked company.

According to the Treasury Department, cotton linters can be processed into nitrocellulose, which is used to improve the performance of solid-propellant rocket motors commonly used in ballistic missiles.

The sanctions also targeted figures linked to Adak Pargas Pars Trading Company, which US authorities previously accused of helping procure sodium perchlorate, a precursor used in ballistic missile propellant.

The US designated two board members of the company, Hamidreza Roknifard and Mostafa Roknifard, as part of the new round.

The sanctions also target Mahan Air, an airline which has long supported Iran’s weapons transport and drone procurement activities.

Among those designated were Sepehr Kaveh Kish International Trading Company, which the Treasury Department said owns or controls Mahan Air, senior officials linked to that company, Saman Air Services, Dubai-based Chabok FZCO, and two Boeing 777 aircraft identified as Mahan Air property.

The move came alongside another pressure track aimed at Tehran’s regional network.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Trump administration has also blocked nearly $500 million in US dollar shipments to Iraq and suspended some security cooperation programs in a bid to pressure Baghdad to curb Iran-backed militias after attacks on American facilities.

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After years of maintaining heavy sanctions on Iran during both terms in office, Trump temporarily lifts sanctions on Iranian oil exports – in the middle of the ongoing war with Iran.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States has moved to temporarily lift sanctions on Iranian oil shipments in an effort to stabilize global energy markets amid soaring prices driven by the ongoing conflict with Iran.

The decision, announced by the US Treasury, allows for the sale of Iranian crude already at sea for a limited period of 30 days. Officials say the measure could release approximately 140 million barrels of oil into global markets, providing much-needed relief as supply disruptions push prices sharply higher.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the move as a “narrowly tailored” step aimed at easing immediate pressure on energy supplies without broadly reopening Iranian oil exports.

The waiver applies only to oil already loaded onto vessels and does not permit new production or expanded trade.

Global oil prices have surged more than 50% in recent weeks, crossing the $100-per-barrel threshold amid disruptions linked to the conflict and instability in key shipping routes.

The Strait of Hormuz — through which a significant portion of the world’s oil supply passes — has been heavily affected, contributing to the tightening of global energy markets.

The move marks the third time in recent weeks that Washington has eased sanctions on oil supplies, following similar measures involving Russian crude.

Analysts say the administration is increasingly concerned about the economic impact of rising fuel costs, particularly on domestic consumers and businesses.

However, the decision has drawn criticism from some lawmakers and analysts, who warn that allowing Iranian oil back onto the market — even temporarily — could provide financial benefits to Tehran during wartime.

Others argue the policy highlights the administration’s limited options for managing the global energy crisis as the conflict intensifies.

Despite the temporary relief, experts caution that the measure may have only a limited effect unless broader disruptions — particularly in the Strait of Hormuz — are resolved.

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The UN has reimposed sanctions on Iran for breaching its nuclear deal obligations, triggering a furious response from Tehran.

By World Israel News Staff

The United Nations has reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran after Tehran failed to comply with an international agreement restricting its nuclear program, sparking outrage from Iranian officials.

On Sunday, the so-called E3 countries — Britain, France, and Germany — announced they were reimposing the measures, which were originally imposed in 2015 and later lifted, after months of failed talks with Iran.

Despite reinstating the sanctions, which are expected to further weaken Iran’s already battered economy, the European nations stressed that the door for talks remains open.

“Our countries will continue to pursue diplomatic routes and negotiations. The reimposition of UN sanctions is not the end of diplomacy,” the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany said in a joint statement.

“We urge Iran to refrain from any escalatory action and to return to compliance with its legally binding safeguards obligations.”

Iran, however, condemned the move as illegal and declared it would no longer respect any restrictions on its nuclear activity after October 18. International watchdog groups have long reported that Iran has previously violated these limits.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi expressed Tehran’s fury in an open letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which he also shared on X.

He argued that the decision to reimpose sanctions was “invalid” and no longer binding.

Araghchi cited the June war between Israel and Iran — which included U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities — as proof that the original terms of the nuclear deal were obsolete.

“These bombings have fundamentally altered the situation, rendering the terminated resolutions…irrelevant,” he wrote.

Countries including Russia and China are expected to continue trading with Iran, despite the sanctions.

On an annual basis, China typically buys $35-43 billion of oil from the Islamic Republic.

According to security blogger Abu Ali Express, the Iranian rial continues to plummet in value.

The exchange rate is now 1.09 million rials to one U.S. dollar.

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Tehran accused the E3 of having “no legal, political, or moral entitlement” to trigger snapback sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

By World Israel News Staff

A senior Iranian government official issued a threatening statement Sunday in response to several European countries’ plan to reimpose sanctions on Tehran for refusing to curb its nuclear program, warning that those nations would soon “lose it all.”

In a post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed the UK, Germany, and France — known collectively as the E3 — have no authority to reinstate sanctions on Iran, which were lifted under the 2015 Obama-era nuclear deal. That agreement failed to stop Iran’s weapons development.

“It is not just that the E3 has no legal, political, or moral entitlement to invoke ‘snapback,’ and that even if they did, ‘use or lose it’ doesn’t work,” Araghchi wrote. “It’s that the correct expression for the E3’s dilemma is ‘use it and lose it.’ Or better yet, ‘use it and lose it all,’” he added.

Araghchi did not specify what the European countries might “lose” if they proceed with the move to reinstate sanctions on Tehran.

Following Iran’s 12-day war in June, the Islamic Republic agreed to resume nuclear talks after months of stalled negotiations. But those discussions collapsed in August, leading the E3 to announce they would reinstate sanctions due to Tehran’s refusal to accept the terms of a new agreement.

However, the sanctions would take effect only after 30 days, giving negotiators additional time for extended talks.

The deadline for reimposing sanctions is approaching, with Iran set to face new penalties if it does not agree to a nuclear deal by the end of September.

During the June conflict, Israel and the United States struck several key Iranian nuclear sites.

However, the efficacy of those strikes remains unclear, with some reports suggesting Tehran had already moved its large stockpile of enriched uranium — critical for building a nuclear weapon — to safety before the U.S. attack on the Fordow facility.

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The US, France, UK, and Germany agree that Iran must reach a new nuclear deal by the end of August – or face snapback sanctions from the three European powers, restoring pre-2015 sanctions.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States and three key European allies have set a deadline for Iran to reach a new nuclear deal, or face the reimposition of sanctions lifted a decade ago, three sources told Axios.

According to the report published Tuesday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone Monday with his French, British, and German counterparts.

During the call, the four reportedly agreed to set a de facto deadline for Tehran to reach a new agreement regarding its nuclear program, or face the restoration of sweeping sanctions.

While the United States under President Donald Trump has restored much of the sanctions regime which Iran faced prior to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement, America’s European “E3″ allies have hesitated to reimpose the United Nations Security Council sanctions which were lifted ten years ago.

Now, however, Germany, France, and the UK have agreed to reactivate the sanctions regime, under the snapback mechanism built into the 2015 agreement.

The move would restore multilateral embargoes imposed by the UN Security Council prior to 2015.

On Tuesday, the European Union announced it will also begin the process of restoring sanctions on Iran, though the procedure could last until mid-October.

The EU will initiate the reinstating of sanctions on Iran if no progress towards a new nuclear deal has been reached by August 29th, the bloc said.

However, the full restoration of all six UN Security Council resolutions imposing sanctions will be delayed until October 15th, giving European diplomats time to pressure Iran as sanctions are incrementally reimposed.

“France and its partners are … justified in reapplying global embargos on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said at a meeting with EU foreign ministers.

“Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest.”

The snapback sanctions are slated under the JCPOA to take effect in October, but EU leaders and the E3 agreed to begin the process earlier, in order to preempt Russia’s rotational presidency of the UN Security Council in October.

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US President Donald Trump blasts Senate Democrat, denying claims US in talks with Iran or offering sanctions relief – after acknowledging he was working on possible removal of sanctions.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

US President Donald Trump on Monday denied claims that his administration is conducting negotiations with the Iranian government, days after he said he had dropped plans to offer sanctions relief to Tehran.

On Sunday, Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat who days earlier announced his support for a new War Powers Resolution to challenge Trump’s ability to carry out military action against Iran, spoke with the Fox News TV regarding the recent US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Expressing support for the damage to Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, Coons also voiced concern that Iran may have relocated its enriched uranium stockpile before the strikes.

Furthermore, Coons questioned the Trump administration’s post-war plans, and suggested that Trump was now pursuing talks in line with then-president Barack Obama’s efforts which culminated in the 2015 nuclear deal.

“President Trump, by press accounts, is now moving towards negotiations and offering Iran a deal that looks somewhat similar to the Iran deal that was offered by Obama – tens of billions of dollars of incentives and reduced sanctions in exchange for abandoning their nuclear program,” Coons said.

Early on Monday morning, Trump fired back that the US is currently not in talks with Tehran, adding that no sanctions relief is on the table at this time.

“Tell phony Democrat Senator Chris Coons that I am not offering Iran ANYTHING, unlike Obama, who paid them $Billions under the stupid road to a Nuclear Weapon JCPOA (which would now be expired!), nor am I even talking to them since we totally OBLITERATED their Nuclear Facilities,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

However, recent comments by the president suggested he was in fact pursuing talks with Iran, and was, until recently, considering offering some form of sanctions relief.

“During the last few days, I was working on the possible removal of sanctions, and other things, which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery – The sanctions are BITING,” Trump wrote on Friday.

On Saturday, Trump again took to his Truth Social account, lamenting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial was interfering with “both Iran and Hamas negotiations.”

NBC News TV cited three sources who claimed that the administration was mulling pursuing a new nuclear deal with Iran, including $30 billion worth of sanctions relief and the unfreezing of assets.

Trump denied the report, calling it “FAKE NEWS.”

“Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that ‘President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.’ Never heard of this ridiculous idea. It’s just another HOAX put out by the Fake News in order to demean. These people are SICK!!!”

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“I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

US President Donald Trump used harsh words on Saturday in response to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s claim that the US was exaggerating the damage its strikes had inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities and that the US forces in the region would receive an additional “slap.”

Trump wrote on social media, “During the last few days, I was working on the possible removal of sanctions, and other things, which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery.”

“But instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief and more,” Trump wrote, calling Khamenei’s remarks “blatant and foolish.”

“As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie,” Trump said, and repeated earlier statements that the nuclear sites were “obliterated.”

Trump also repeated a claim he posted on social media during the conflict that he knew where Khamenei was hiding and added that he saved him from being assassinated by Israel.

“I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death,” Trump said.

This is in contrast to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s statement on Friday that Israeli intelligence didn’t know precisely where Khamenei was hiding, but that Israeli forces were prepared to kill him if given the chance.

Trump recounted how he urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abort a mission to send Israel Air Force planes to strike Iran to retaliate for a deadly missile barrage after the ceasefire was activated.

It was going to be the biggest attack of the war by far,” Trump said.

“Iran has to get back into the world order flow, or things will only get worse for them,” he added.

“They are always so angry, hostile and unhappy, and look at what it has gotten them: A burned out, blown up country, with no future, a decimated military, a horrible economy and death all around them,” Trump continued.

Addressing Khamenei directly, “You have to tell the truth. You got beat to hell.”

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They must tighten the economic screws. They must not lift sanctions, but double down on sanctions.

By Hugh Fitzgerald, Front Page Magazine

How should the Americans hasten the fall of the Iranian regime? They must tighten the economic screws. They must not lift sanctions, but double down on sanctions. The Iranians, with one-third of them now living below the poverty line, are in despair. They realize how many tens of billions of dollars their despotic regime of fanatical Muslims has spent on Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Assad’s Syria, only to see it all — tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons — go up in smoke. The Iranian exiles want the Americans to end the current negotiations, and to present Iran with an ultimatum: either Iran hands over all of its uranium enriched above a level of about 5% (approximately the level needed to run a nuclear reactor), destroys its centrifuges, and destroys its ballistic missiles, or the Americans will put more sanctions on the regime, including putting a blockade the port of Bandar Abbas through which 80% of Iran’s exports, including its oil, pass, preventing the oil sales on which Iran depends for its survival.

Were Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, Iranian dissidents believe, it would not only threaten Israel, but also the Sunni Arab states of the Gulf. Iran could threaten Israel’s existence, but also could destroy the oil production facilities of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and the LNG facilities in Qatar, sending oil prices sky-high and causing untold damage to Western economies. Nor would the danger be limited to the Middle East. With nuclear weapons, Iran’s regime could threaten to hit American bases not just in the region — in the UAE, in Qatar, in Bahrain,Saudi Arabia — but targets in America itself if, for example, Washington were to refuse to reduce or cut off altogether military aid to Israel.

One Iranian dissident said that “blanket military action against Iran will not work and that ‘foreign powers cannot impose sustainable regime change; it must emerge from within. It cannot be forced through war.’”

Here I beg to differ. Why wouldn’t “blanket military action against Iran” work? Perhaps she means that such military action would lead Iranians, who had been dissidents, to now support the regime in an outpouring of nationalist fervor prompted by those foreign attacks. And instead of the regime collapsing in the face of such attacks, she fears it would be given a new lease on life.

Another dissident said: “We will do the work from within to rid the world of this barbaric, tentacled, terrorist regime.” And “all they ask is that the Western world stop saving the regime.” In other words, she believes that Iran’s regime is economically and militarily on its uppers, with most of the Iranians having lost any faith in the government’s ability to reform itself. All that the dissidents want is for the West to stop “saving the regime.” That means completely cutting off Iran’s oil sales by blockading the port of Bandar Abbas, and other exports as well. It means stopping Iran from importing Western goods, everything from MRI machines to Smartphones to helicopters. It means putting sanctions on many hundreds more of Iran’s senior officials, cutting off their ability to travel anywhere in the West, or to send their children for study in the West , which is important to so many of them.

Were Iran to manage to produce a few nuclear bombs, this would greatly enhance its prestige at home, and lessen the domestic opposition to the regime. It would also mean that the regime would now believe itself impervious to attack, either by the Great or by the Little Satan, out of their fear of Iran retaliating using nuclear weapons.

All of these Iranian dissidents feel keenly that their fate is being decided not just by foreigners — the American negotiating team led by Steve Witkoff, but by foreigners with little understanding of the Iranians’ ability, and intent, to deceive. They want hard-headed American negotiators, who will consult with them and with the Israelis at every step, and who will make clear to Iran that nothing can be achieved, no sanctions lifted, without Iran agreeing to give up all of its stockpile of uranium enriched beyond a level of 5%, and the centrifuges it has used for such uranium enrichment. And if Iran does not agree, then not only will the current sanctions remain, but many more sanctions will be put in place, driving Iran’s economy into the ground.

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Oil sales to China, a major source of income, has dropped by more than half since January.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it is placing eight more companies on its blacklist as part of President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” against the Islamic Republic.

The companies will be sanctioned for “knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the sale or transport of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran,” the State Department said.

The reason given is that “Iran continues to destabilize global security with its nuclear threat, ballistic missile program, and support for terrorist groups,” and the sanctions’ purpose is “to “stem the flow of revenue the regime uses to fund these destabilizing activities.”

The sanctions block the companies and their owners from their American properties and from receiving funds, goods, or services in the U.S.

The move is in line with a National Security Presidential Memorandum that Trump signed earlier this month “to implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero.”

China is a huge buyer of these products, with a November report by the Congressional Research Service stating that “nearly all” of Iran’s petroleum exports went in 2024 to the Asian giant.

The Chinese have now drastically reduced their purchase of Iranian crude, according to an investigation by the opposition Iran International news service, thus dealing Tehran a heavy financial blow.

Citing data by Kpler, a company that provides data and analytics for global trade, the London-based service reported that China’s imports “fell by more than half in January,” even before the first new sanctions were ordered, compared to October 2024.

China implemented its decision by forbidding sanctioned oil tankers from entering its Shandong port, where 90% of Iranian crude is offloaded, Iran International explained.

It credited Beijing’s fear of potential sanctions by the incoming administration for the move.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated that Iran’s oil companies earned about $53 billion for the state coffers from their exports in 2023. Others say its petroleum and petrochemical sales generated as much as $70 billion.

Sanctioning more companies now for helping Tehran sell its oil will tighten screws that had begun to be applied last year by the Biden administration.

After Iran’s first attempted direct attack on Israel with hundreds of missiles and drones in March, the U.S. put sanctions on ports, tankers, and refineries involved in the purchase of Iranian oil and added dozens more vessels to the blacklist after Tehran tried a second wave in October.

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National security expert: ‘Trump is determined to reinstitute a maximum pressure strategy to bankrupt Iran as soon as possible.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

President-elect Donald Trump plans to financially cripple Iran and prevent its funding of terror proxies by applying “maximum pressure” through a program sanctions, particularly on oil exports, the Financial Times reports.

The sanctions aim to drastically reduce Iran’s oil exports, which are currently at 1.5 million barrels a day, up from 400,000.

The blow to Iran’s economy as the result of sanctions could prevent it from funding Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and its own terror activities.

“He’s determined to reinstitute a maximum pressure strategy to bankrupt Iran as soon as possible,” said a national security expert familiar with the Trump transition team.

Bob McNally, an energy consultant and former US presidential adviser, said the sanctions could leave Iran in a worse economic condition than it was during Trump’s first term.

“If they really go whole hog . . . they could knock Iran’s oil exports back to a few hundred thousand barrels per day,” he said.

He added, “It’s their main source of earnings, and their economy is already much more fragile than it was back then . . . They’re in a corner much worse than even the first term, and it would be a pretty bad situation.”

The Financial Times reports that people “familiar with the President’s thinking” have said the maximum pressure strategy is intended to force Iran to make concessions in nuclear talks with the US.

“We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible. We have to make a deal,” Trump said while campaigning in September.

In his first term as President, Trump instituted a maximum pressure campaign against Iran with numerous sanctions after shelving the nuclear deal the US made with the Islamic Republic in 2015.

The sanctions remained in place during the Biden Administration but were not enforced strictly because of Biden’s strategy to seek a renewed nuclear pact with Iran.

Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, attempted to pass legislation when he was serving in Congress that would have imposed secondary sanctions on Chinese purchases of Iran’s crude oil.

“We’re hoping that it will be an incentive to get them to agree to negotiations in good faith that would stabilize relations and even someday normalize them, but I think Trump’s terms for that will be much tougher than the Iranians are ready for,” Waltz said.

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President-elect Donald Trump to restore ‘maximum pressure’ policies against Iran, officials say, after Iran allegedly plotted to assassinate the former president.

By World Israel News Staff

Former President and President-elect Donald Trump is planning to return the U.S. to the “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran which the White House pursued during the four years of his first administration, former U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.

During his first term in office, Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran and withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – on May 8, 2018, restoring the sanctions regime suspended under the 2015 agreement.

In addition, the president pursued what he called a broader strategy of “maximum pressure” on Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, its ballistic missile program, and its support for terrorist proxy forces including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Yemenite Houthis.

The Trump administration targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designating the organization as a terrorist group in April 2019, and assassinating Qassem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC’s overseas Quds Force on January 3rd, 2020.

Now, according to former Trump administration officials, the president-elect is poised to resume his policy of “maximum pressure,” targeting Iran’s nuclear program as well as its support for terrorist groups involved in ongoing wars with Israel and attacks on Red Sea shipping.

According to the former administration officials, Iranian plots to assassinate Trump have further fueled his plans to confront Tehran.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice charged three men for allegedly plotting to murder Trump, an Iranian-American human rights advocate, and a number of Israelis and other Jews.

The plot was allegedly orchestrated by Iran and led by Iranian national Farhad Shakeri, who could face as much as 100 years in prison for the murder plot, money laundering, terrorism charges, and sanctions violations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he has spoken three times with Trump regarding Iran since last Tuesday’s election.

In a video statement, Netanyahu added that he and the president-elect see “eye-to-eye” on the issue.

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