US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House, in Washington, DC, Feb. 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump signed the presidential memorandum reimposing Washington’s tough policy on Iran that was practiced throughout his first term.

As he signed the memo, Trump described it as very tough and said he was torn on whether to make the move. He said he was open to a deal with Iran and expressed a willingness to talk to the Iranian leader.

“With me, it’s very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. Asked how close Tehran is to a weapon, Trump said: “They’re too close.”

Iran‘s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has accused former President Joe Biden of failing to rigorously enforce oil-export sanctions, which Trump says emboldened Tehran by allowing it to sell oil to fund a nuclear weapons program and armed militias in the Middle East.

Iran is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level, the UN nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters in December. Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.

Trump‘s memo, among other things, orders the US Treasury secretary to impose “maximum economic pressure” on Iran, including sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on those violating existing sanctions.

It also directs the Treasury and State Department to implement a campaign aimed at “driving Iran‘s oil exports to zero.” US oil prices pared losses on Tuesday on the news that Trump planned to sign the memo, which offset some weakness from the tariff drama between Washington and Beijing.

Tehran’s oil exports brought in $53 billion in 2023 and $54 billion a year earlier, according to US Energy Information Administration estimates. Output during 2024 was running at its highest level since 2018, based on OPEC data.

Trump had driven Iran‘s oil exports to near-zero during part of his first term after re-imposing sanctions. They rose under Biden’s tenure as Iran succeeded in evading sanctions.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency believes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other OPEC members have spare capacity to make up for any lost exports from Iran, also an OPEC member.

PUSH FOR SANCTIONS SNAPBACK

China does not recognize US sanctions and Chinese firms buy the most Iranian oil. China and Iran have also built a trading system that uses mostly Chinese yuan and a network of middlemen, avoiding the dollar and exposure to US regulators.

Kevin Book, an analyst at ClearView Energy, said the Trump administration could enforce the 2024 Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) law to curtail some Iranian barrels.

SHIP, which the Biden administration did not enforce strictly, allows measures on foreign ports and refineries that process petroleum exported from Iran in violation of sanctions. Book said a move last month by the Shandong Port Group to ban US-sanctioned tankers from calling into its ports in the eastern Chinese province signals the impact SHIP could have.

Trump also directed his UN ambassador to work with allies to “complete the snapback of international sanctions and restrictions on Iran,” under a 2015 deal between Iran and key world powers that lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.

The US quit the agreement in 2018, during Trump‘s first term, and Iran began moving away from its nuclear-related commitments under the deal. The Trump administration had also tried to trigger a snapback of sanctions under the deal in 2020, but the move was dismissed by the UN Security Council.

Britain, France, and Germany told the United Nations Security Council in December that they are ready — if necessary — to trigger a snapback of all international sanctions on Iran to prevent the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

They will lose the ability to take such action on Oct. 18 when a 2015 UN resolution expires. The resolution enshrines Iran‘s deal with Britain, Germany, France, the United States, Russia, and China that lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Iran‘s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, has said that invoking the “snap-back” of sanctions on Tehran would be “unlawful and counterproductive.”

European and Iranian diplomats met in November and January to discuss if they could work to defuse regional tensions, including over Tehran’s nuclear program, before Trump returned.

The post Trump Reimposes ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran, Aims to Drive Oil Exports to Zero first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

An UNRWA aid truck at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered an end to US engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council and continued a halt to funding for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.

The move coincides with a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long been critical of UNRWA, accusing it of anti-Israel incitement and its staff of being “involved in terrorist activities against Israel.”

During Trump‘s first term in office, from 2017-2021, he also cut off funding for UNRWA, questioning its value, saying that Palestinians needed to agree to renew peace talks with Israel, and calling for unspecified reforms.

The first Trump administration also quit the 47-member Human Rights Council halfway through a three-year term over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The US is not currently a member of the Geneva-based body. Under former President Joe Biden, the US served a 2022-2024 term.

A council working group is due to review the US human rights record later this year, a process all countries undergo every few years. While the council has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight and criticism can raise global pressure on governments to change course.

Since taking office for a second term on Jan. 20, Trump has ordered that the US withdraw from the World Health Organization and from the Paris climate agreement — also steps he took during his first term in office.

The US was UNRWA’s biggest donor — providing $300 million-$400 million a year — but Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza.

The US Congress then formally suspended contributions to UNRWA until at least March 2025.

The United Nations has said that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon — killed in September by Israel — was also found to have had a UNRWA job.

An Israeli ban went into effect on Jan. 30 that prohibits UNRWA from operating on its territory or communicating with Israeli authorities. UNRWA has said operations in Gaza and West Bank will also suffer.

The post Trump Stops US Involvement With UN Rights Body, Extends UNRWA Funding Halt first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Christine Levinson (R), wife of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, watches as her son, Daniel Levinson, displays a web print of his father’s picture to journalists, while attending a news conference, at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 22, 2007. Photo: Reuters / Morteza Nikoubazl.

The Washington field office of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday released posters seeking information about two senior Iranian intelligence officers allegedly involved in the disappearance of retired FBI Special Agent Robert Levinson.

The two men — Mohammed Baseri and Ahmad Khazai — have been accused of authorizing the 2007 abduction of Levinson

“The FBI remains steadfast in our commitment to return Bob to his family,” Sanjay Virmani, special agent of the FBI Washington field office’s Counterterrorism Division, said in a statement. “Our extensive investigation continues to develop new leads and intelligence, and we will pursue all options to hold every Iranian official involved in his abduction accountable.”

Levinson was working as a private investigator in 2007 when he vanished after traveling to Iran’s Kish Island. He was reportedly involved in an unauthorized CIA mission at the time. The US has maintained that he was kidnapped and held wrongfully by the Iranian government. Levinson was thought to be alive for several years. In 2020, however, US officials said that intelligence suggested he may have been dead for “some time.”

At the time of Levinson’s kidnapping, both Baseri and Khazai were operating as members of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), according to US authorities.

“For nearly 18 years, the Iranian government has denied knowledge of Bob’s whereabouts despite senior intelligence officials authorizing Bob’s abduction and detention and launching a disinformation campaign to deflect blame from the Iranian regime,” the FBI said in its statement.

FBI renewing effort to find retired special agent abducted in Iran almost 18 years ago

The Washington Field Office is seeking 2 Iranian intelligence officers – Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai – involved in the kidnapping, detention and probable death of Bob Levinson pic.twitter.com/kH36EtgIEZ

— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 4, 2025

In December 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Baseri and Khazai for their role in Levinson’s abduction.

According to the designation Baseri is a senior MOIS official who has participated in critical investigations regarding Iranian national security concerns. Baseri also conducts counterespionage operations both inside and outside Iran, the Treasury Department said, and has collaborated directly with foreign intelligence services to undermine US interests.

Meanwhile, Khazai has overseen MOIS trips to foreign nations to evaluate the security situation, according to the Treasury Department’s designation.

Although Iran has previously denied any knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts and involvement in his abduction, it is widely believed that the Iranian government held Levinson captive to be used as leverage in negotiations with the United States.

In March 2024, former FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a statement honoring Levinson’s service. 

“It has been 17 years since Bob disappeared in Iranian territory, but no matter how much time has passed, the FBI and our partners will pursue every lead to uncover what happened to Bob and return him to his family,” Wray said. “I’m grateful that our nation continues to remember Bob, with March 9 commemorating National Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day — a day for our entire nation to pause and remember Bob and all Americans unjustly held abroad.”

Iran has an extensive history of attempting to kidnap Americans. In 2021, for example, the US Justice Department announced charges against Iranian intelligence agents for plotting to kidnap an American citizen and Iranian dissident, journalist Masih Alinejad, in the US and take her by boat to Venezuela before forcibly returning her to Iran, where she was born.

The FBI has continued to offer a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Levinson’s location, recovery, and return.

The post FBI Releases Posters Seeking More Information on Iranian Intel Officers Tied to Robert Levinson Abduction first appeared on Algemeiner.com.