Trump Directs Officials to Ramp Up Economic Pressure on Iran (1)

President Donald Trump signed a directive that aims to ramp up economic pressure on Iran, following through on pledges to reverse what he has cast as a lax sanctions enforcement regime under his White House predecessor.

The directive will ask Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to use sanctions and tougher enforcement of existing measures to increase the pressure on Tehran. Taken together Trump’s moves revives a tougher stance against Iran that Trump embraced in his first term, when he pulled the US out of an agreement that imposed limits on the country’s nuclear program and sought to economically isolate Tehran.

Trump ...