Iran deal
Trump has decided to stick with Obama's Iran deal — but with tougher ballistic missile sanctions
The Trump administration will leave in place former President Barack Obama's so-called "Iran deal," renewing waivers that allow companies to do business with the nation, BuzzFeed News reports. The Treasury Department will, on the other hand, add sanctions to two Iranian defense officials and one Iranian entity in relation to ballistic missile development.
With the addition of the ballistic missile sanctions, BuzzFeed News notes that the Trump administration's actions "represent a significantly more aggressive approach to Iran than under the Obama administration, but stop short of an all-out abandonment of the 2015 nuclear deal signed by Iran and world powers including the U.S. and Russia." President Trump previously slammed the Iran deal as "disastrous," and administration officials were reportedly divided on dropping the deal or not. Many Western European allies support the deal and encouraged the Trump administration to stick with it.
Iran votes next week on a president; current leader Hassan Rouhani helped orchestrate the Iran deal while his opposition, Ebrahim Raisi, is positioned more firmly against dealings with the United States.