Donald Trump approves increased sanctions on Iran

Donald Trump approves increased sanctions on Iran
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had approved increased sanctions on Iran after a missile strike this week on Iraqi bases housing American military personnel and also spoke about the crashed Ukrainian airline in Iran. (AFP)
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Updated 13 January 2020
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Donald Trump approves increased sanctions on Iran

Donald Trump approves increased sanctions on Iran
  • Trump also spoke about the crashed Ukrainian airliner
  • US officials said it was “highly likely” that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed the aircraft

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had approved increased sanctions on Iran after a missile strike this week on Iraqi bases housing American military personnel, but gave no other details.

"It's already been done. We've increased them. They were very severe, but now it's increased substantially," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"I just approved it a little while ago with Treasury."

Trump did not elaborate on the new sanctions and said the Treasury Department would make a statement.

The US president on Wednesday promised to "impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime" after Iran launched missile strikes on the bases in Iraq.

There were no casualties in Tuesday night's attacks, which were carried out in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike last week that killed senior Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani.