US special Iran envoy says more sanctions coming

US Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, testifies during a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on US Policy in the Middle East on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 24, 2020.

Elliott Abrams says US sanctions give ‘leverage’ that could be used to forge deal broader than 2015 accord

US Special Envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams said Washington was planning to roll out more sanctions against Iran in the coming weeks.

Speaking at Wednesday’s virtual event by the Beirut Institute, Abrams said that the US will be announcing new measures every week until late January.

The restrictions will be linked with Tehran’s sales and procurement of conventional arms, weapons of mass destruction and human rights violations, he revealed.

He also voiced his approval of the presumptive President-elect Joe Biden’s picks for the positions of National Security Advisor and State Secretary.

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Abrams said he expected that the US would enter new talks with Iran in 2021, after US President Donald Trump leaves the White House.

The envoy also said that a new deal between the United States and Tehran will be struck under Biden.

“We think the Biden administration has a great opportunity because there is so much leverage on Iran through the sanctions,” he said, as cited by Reuters, adding he believed it was possible to reach a broader deal that would cover Iran’s support for regional proxies and efforts to obtain ballistic missiles.

The 2015 nuclear deal, which President Trump withdrew the US from, was only focused on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

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