The sources also stated that the team responsible for Trump’s foreign policy will work to tighten the sanctions on Tehran, including on oil exports, immediately after the president begins his term in January. “Trump is determined to renew the strategy for maximum pressure to lead Iran to collapse as soon as possible,” said a national security expert privy to the details.
The plan to thwart the Iranian nuclear program will mark a change in the policy of the United States towards the Middle East, after the Hamas attack on October 7 led the region to a difficult security reality and made Israel’s confrontation with Iran exposed for all to see.
However, the president-elect hinted during his election campaign that he was interested in an agreement with Iran. “An agreement must be reached, because the consequences will be impossible,” Trump said in September.
People familiar with Trump’s way of thinking noted that the tactic he is using to apply maximum pressure will result in an attempt to force Iran to hold a dialogue with the US – although experts believed that the move was unlikely to come to fruition.
Trump has previously run a campaign of “massive pressure” during his first term as president, after canceling the 2015 nuclear agreement that Iran signed with the other world powers, and causing many sanctions to be imposed on Tehran. In response to the move, Tehran increased its nuclear activities and is enriching uranium to a level close to nuclear weapons.
The sanctions remained in effect during the Biden administration, but analysts claim that it did not enforce them as strictly as it did during the Trump era, with the aim of renewing the nuclear agreement with Iran and easing the crisis.
The sanctions remained in effect during the Biden administration, but according to analysts, the United States did not enforce them as strictly as it did during the Trump administration, with the aim of renewing the nuclear agreement and “alleviating the crisis in the Middle East”.
In the last four years, Iran’s crude oil exports have tripled from 400,000 barrels per day in 2020 to more than 1.5 million barrels per day as of 2024. All of the oil shipments were destined for China, according to data from the US Energy Information Agency.