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
of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told Reuters in December. Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.
Trump's memo will, among other things, order the U.S. Treasury secretary to impose "maximum economic pressure" on Iran, including sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on those violating existing sanctions, the U.S. official said.
The Trump administration will aim to drive "Iran's oil exports to zero," the official said.
on Tuesday on the news, which offset some weakness from the tariff drama between Washington and Beijing .
