President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened secondary sanctions on any purchasers of Iranian oil or petrochemicals after the postponement of planned negotiations between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.
"ALERT: All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "Any Country or person who buys ANY AMOUNT of OIL or PETROCHEMICALS from Iran will be subject to, immediately, Secondary Sanctions.
"They will not be allowed to do business with the United States of America in any way, shape, or form. Thank you for your attention to this matter, PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP."
Trump's post is consistent with the national security memorandum he issued Feb. 4 that directed the Treasury Department and other federal agencies to enact maximum economic pressure on Iran to deny it all paths to a nuclear weapon and counter its destabilizing influence in the region.
The talks between the U.S. and Iran were scheduled to take place in Rome, but Oman Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who mediated the first three rounds of talks between the countries, wrote in a post on X that "for logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd. New dates will be announced when mutually agreed."
On Wednesday, the State Department sanctioned entities it accused of being involved in the illicit trade of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals. The State Department said in a news release it was imposing sanctions on seven entities based in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Iran that it accused of trading Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products. Two vessels were also targeted.
The agency designated four sellers of Iranian petrochemicals and one purchaser that "generated hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit funds for Iran's destabilizing activities. These companies send Iranian-origin petrochemicals and petrochemical products to third=party countries and enable Iran to evade sanctions and continue to generate revenue."
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei on Thursday "strongly condemned the new U.S. sanctions against individuals and legal entities in Iran and several other countries under the pretext of cooperating with Iran in various economic and trade areas," according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Baqaei warned "against the consequences of the contradictory behavior and provocative positions by the U.S. officials."
Meanwhile, a person familiar with the U.S. negotiators told The Washington Post on Thursday that the Trump administration "had never confirmed its participation" in a fourth round of talks in Rome. However, the person said the U.S. expected the talks to occur "in the near future." The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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