The United States on Wednesday announced new sanctions aimed at Iran’s nuclear program before seeing conversations closely among the adversaries of a lifetime.
The Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions under additional authorities in five entities, including Iran’s atomic energy organization and an individual on the contested nuclear program.
In practical terms, the measure is symbolic since the United States already enforces radical sanctions against Iran and particularly its nuclear program, whose scientists have also been the objective of a murder campaign attributed to Israel.
But the sanctions are the last pressure show by the United States before the conversations, which will take place on Saturday in Oman.
“The reckless search for the Iranian regime of nuclear weapons remains a serious threat to the United States and a threat to regional stability and global security,” said Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent, in a statement, promising “interrupting any attempt to advance its nuclear program.”
Iran denies having looked for nuclear weapons and American intelligence has not concluded that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon, saying that only the clerical state could quickly make a bomb if it decides to do it.
Trump, who torn a previous nuclear agreement during his first time, has expressed the hope of a diplomatic solution, but has repeatedly warned of the use of force if the conversations fail.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that military action would be “inevitable” if conversations last too long.
