Democrats back Trump administration’s new sanctions against Iran
By
Joseph Kishore
4 February 2017
Top Democrats have thrown their support behind new sanctions announced by US President Donald Trump against Iran, part of an aggressive foreign policy shift of the incoming administration.
The sanctions were formally announced on Friday by the US Treasury Department, nominally in response to Iran’s launching of a missile last weekend and its alleged support for Houthi forces targeted by the US-backed Saudi bombardment of Yemen. The sanctions target 13 individuals and 12 companies that have ties to Iran, including one Chinese national.
Friday’s actions are more significant for what they indicate about the direction of the Trump administration’s policy toward Iran than for their immediate impact. They came two days after an extraordinary press briefing in which National Security Adviser Michael Flynn declared that Iran was being put “on notice,” and that the US would retaliate in some way, including possible military action.
The announcement of the new sanctions was followed by a statement from Flynn on Friday, declaring that the “international community has been too tolerant of Iran’s bad behavior” and that “the days of turning a blind eye to Iran’s hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over.”
The US president responded with a Tweet on Friday: “Iran is playing with fire—They don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!” The administration is reportedly carrying out a “strategic review” of Iran policy, and one top administration official said that the sanctions were just “initial steps.”
At a briefing on Friday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked…