IRAN/OIL/SANCTIONS/SAUDI ARABIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Friday [9-20-19] shared details of his administration’s newest sanctions on Iran, targeting the Islamic Republic’s national bank over Tehran’s alleged involvement in a series of drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities last weekend. Trump claimed they would be the ‘highest sanctions ever imposed on a country,’ telling reporters in the Oval Office that the penalties would go ‘right to the top’ of the Iranian government…The latest sanctions layer on top of a slew of other penalties the Trump administration has imposed and reimposed as a result of Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and other world powers. The existing sanctions have already targeted Iran’s oil exports, its metal and mining industries and its ability to receive financing from international banks. Tehran has repeatedly likened the sanctions to ‘economic warfare.’”
–Caitlin Oprysko, “Trump announces ‘highest sanctions ever’ targeting Iran’s central bank,” Politico, September 20, 2019 1:28 pm