US President Donald Trump yesterday said he would impose fresh sanctions on Iran but that he wanted to make a deal to bolster its flagging economy, an apparent move to defuse tensions following the shooting down of an unmanned US drone this week by the Islamic Republic.
On Thursday, an Iranian missile destroyed a US Global Hawk surveillance drone, an incident that Washington said happened in international airspace.
Trump later said he had called off a military strike to retaliate because it could have killed 150 people.
Tehran repeated yesterday that the drone was shot down over its territory and said it would respond firmly to any US threat.
Speaking in Washington yesterday before heading to the US presidential retreat at Camp David, Trump indicated the government was taking a diplomatic path to put pressure on Tehran by moving to impose new sanctions.
Military action was “always on the table,” the president said, but he added that he was open to quickly reach a deal with Iran that he said would bolster the country’s flagging economy.
“We will call it ‘Let’s make Iran great again,’” Trump said.
He later wrote on Twitter from Camp David: “We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday. I look forward to the day that Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again.”
Both Trump and Tehran have said they are not seeking war, but Iran has warned of a “crushing” response if attacked.
“Regardless of any decision, they (US officials) make... we will not allow any of Iran’s borders to be violated. Iran will firmly confront any aggression or threat by America,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Saturday.
Tensions in the region began to worsen significantly when Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers and reimposed sanctions on the country. The US and Saudi Arabia have also blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers last week in the Gulf of Oman and on four tankers off the United Arab Emirates on May 12.
Both incidents happened near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for global oil supplies.
World powers have called for calm and sent in envoys for talks to try to lower the temperature of a dispute that has pushed up the price of oil.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called yesterday for a political resolution of the crisis, adding: “That is what we are working on.”
Britain’s Foreign Office said Middle East minister Andrew Murrison would visit Tehran today to raise concerns about “Iran’s regional conduct and its threat to cease complying with the nuclear deal.”
Separately, Iran has executed a former contract employee for the aerospace organisation of the Ministry of Defence on charges of spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the IRIB news agency reported on Saturday.
Jalal Hajizavar was convicted by a military court after an investigation which discovered documents and spying equipment at his home, the report said.