White House national security adviser John Bolton made clear on Monday that the Trump administration is planning to impose even more sanctions on Iran, in addition to those that went into effect on Monday.
"We’re gonna have sanctions that even go beyond this. We’re not simply going to be content with the level of sanctions that existed under Obama in 2015,” Bolton said in an interview with Fox Business Network.
"More are coming," he pledged, adding, "We are actually going to have very strict, very tight enforcement of the sanctions that exist."
Last Friday, the US announced the reimposition of all sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal from which President Donald Trump withdrew in May.
The sanctions which went into effect on Monday target Iran's energy sector, as well as its shipping, shipbuilding and financial sectors.
Bolton also said during Monday’s interview that oil waivers for eight countries are temporary.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that the administration granted waivers to eight “jurisdictions” when it reimposed oil and gas sanctions. Those countries include China, India, South Korea, Japan and Turkey.
"[They] need some time to get down to zero," Bolton said. "These are not permanent waivers. No way."
He added that the goal is to pressure Tehran to "change their behavior dramatically or face economic disaster."
"This day is a historic day. This is the day on which the United States, led by President Trump, imposed the most severe sanctions on Iran, the most severe sanctions imposed on Iran since the beginning of the effort to stop its aggression. We see the impact of these sanctions on the ground right now. And the second wave of sanctions, especially the sanctions imposed on the SWIFT, the banking clearing system used by the Iranian regime, will add a very severe blow to Iran's terrorist regime,” he said.
“I believed that sanctions must include this element of credit clearance. I raised this several times, even during my last meeting with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and I am pleased that the US has decided to include this component, the credit component,” he added.
