A long-range Qadr ballistic missile is launched in the Alborz mountain
range in northern Iran on March 9, 2016. Iran said its armed forces had
fired two more ballistic missiles as it continued tests in defiance of
US warnings. PHOTO | MAHMMOD HOUSSEINI | AFP
WASHINGTON
US
President Donald Trump slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's weapons
procurement network Friday, provoking an angry response from Tehran in
what is an increasingly tense stand-off.
Officials
said the new measures were in response to Iran's recent ballistic
missile test and its support for the Huthi rebels in Yemen, who recently
targeted a Saudi warship.
The new
sanctions do not yet mean that the US has abandoned commitments it made
under the deal to lift measures aimed at Iran's nuclear program,
officials said.
But Trump has made no
secret of his contempt for that accord, which his predecessor Barack
Obama approved in July 2015, and officials said Friday's measures would
not be the last.
PLAYING WITH FIRE
"Iran is playing with fire - they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump tweeted.
Underlining
what he sees as the tougher stance under Trump rather than Obama,
hardline US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn drew a stark line in
the sand.
"The days of turning a
blind eye to Iran's hostile and belligerent actions toward the United
States and the world community are over," he said.
"This
behaviour seems continuous despite the very favourable deal given to
Iran by the Obama Administration. These sanctions target these
behaviours."
Iran reacted angrily to
the sanctions, vowing to impose "legal limitations" on Americans that
Tehran alleges are involved in creating and supporting "extreme
terrorist groups."
US intelligence
and Treasury officials are constantly scrutinizing Iran's networks,
looking for evidence of extremist funding and advanced weapons
procurement.
STRATEGIC REVIEW
The
immediate trigger for the sanctions was Iran's test, on Sunday, of a
ballistic missile that US officials judge to have been capable of one
day carrying a nuclear warhead.
But
the latest detailed list of designations has clearly been in preparation
for some time, and the White House says "nothing is off the table" —
even military action.
"We are
undertaking a larger strategic review," a senior US administration
official told reporters. "The launch of the missile was the triggering
event."
Washington is also concerned
about attacks by Huthi rebels, a powerful faction in Yemen's civil war
which US intelligence believes is armed and supported by Iran.
This
week Huthi forces attacked a Saudi warship operating off Yemen and on
Friday, a US official said: "We're very concerned about freedom of
navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb area."
The
senior official said Iran was "not necessarily responsible for every
tactical decision" made by Huthi forces, but that it will be made to
bear responsibility for its "proxies."
The
United States has already protested about Iran's missile test at the
United Nations, arguing it was "inconsistent" with UN Security Council
Resolution 2231.
ANGRY TAUNTS
But
Russia, which is allied with Iranian forces in its defence of Bashar
al-Assad's Syrian regime, is unlikely to allow new international
sanctions to target Tehran.
US
Treasury officials hope that preventing Iran's networks in Lebanon and
China from buying US goods or using the US financial system will curtail
their activity.
Nevertheless,
Trump's pronouncements on the 2015 nuclear deal, and Iran's angry
response that his taunts are "baseless" and "provocative," have raised
fears of an imminent showdown.
The
nuclear deal obliged Iran to curtail its nuclear program and halt any
nuclear weapons research in exchange for relief from US and
international sanctions targeting the sector.
It
was agreed between Tehran and six powers — Britain, China, France,
Germany, Russia and the US — and Obama's White House hailed it as a blow
against nuclear proliferation.
Trump,
Israel and many US foreign policy hawks argue instead that the deal was
too soft and that the windfall Iran won with sanctions relief will be
funnelled to terror networks.
If the
deal collapses, however, some observers fear a nuclear arms race in the
Middle East. US officials insist that the new sanctions have no bearing
on the deal — for now.
"Iran has to determine its response to our actions. Iran has a choice to make," a senior administration official said.
"We
are going to continue to respond to their behaviour in an ongoing way
and at an appropriate level to continue to pressure them to change their
behaviour."
Many in Washington are
arguing for tougher action, and hawks in Congress have been calling for
broad measures to target entire sectors of Iran's fragile economy.
SEVERE PRICE
"Unless
the Iranian regime pays a severe price for its malign activities, they
are unlikely to stop," said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for
Defence of Democracies.
Think tank
the Eurasia Group said the fate of the nuclear deal itself is in US
hands and will be decided by "the harshness of the sanctions Trump puts
in place."
If he sticks to
designating new individuals for existing sanctions, the deal will
probably hold — "but it is a close call" — the group said in a briefing
note.
If he aims for broader sanctions designed to hobble the Iranian economy, it may fall apart.
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