IRAN/MILITARY/SANCTIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “One day after coming within minutes of military strikes on Iran, the Trump administration has backed off its threat and is now weighing imposing additional sanctions against Tehran. But the US has not announced new sanctions yet, despite President Donald Trump’s false claim otherwise…This official cautioned, however, that the President has not taken military action entirely off the table. ‘That’s an option the President maintains at all times,’ said this official, adding, ‘That’s really the President’s call.’ Trump, in an interview clip released Friday evening, told NBC he’s ‘not looking for war’ with Iran, but if it comes to that, ‘it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before’…Tehran has threatened to next week restart enriching uranium in violation of the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew the US in 2017. When pressed by CNN on why the administration will impose sanctions on Iran for violating an agreement the US has itself withdrawn from, the senior administration official explained that any additional sanctions will be intended as punishment for a range of behaviors, including Iran’s missile program and its support for terrorism.”
–Jim Sciutto, Kaitlan Collins and Jennifer Hansler, “Administration ponders more Iran sanctions, but hasn’t imposed them yet despite Trump’s claim,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 21, 2019 8:55 pm