US Vice President J.D. Vance stated today that President Donald Trump continues to prefer a diplomatic solution with Iran and hopes the Iranians will take this seriously in the negotiations scheduled for Thursday between the two sides. “The president was as clear as he could be: Iran cannot acquire nuclear weapons (…) He will try to achieve this through diplomatic channels,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News. The American vice president avoided clarifying whether the US would want Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step down from power.
The US government announced the imposition of new economic sanctions aimed at weakening Tehran’s regime
Earlier today, the US government announced the imposition of new economic sanctions aimed at weakening Tehran’s regime and limiting its oil revenues, on the eve of talks between the two sides in Geneva. The Treasury Department’s sanctions office blacklisted four Iranians, companies, and twelve ships. According to the announcement, these tankers belong to the “shadow fleet” that allows Tehran to circumvent the US embargo on crude oil exports and thereby “fund domestic repression, affiliated terrorist organizations, and its weapons programs.” Trump accused Iran on Tuesday of developing “missiles that can threaten Europe and US (military) bases” and of seeking to acquire even more powerful weapons systems capable of “soon striking the United States.”
