President Donald Trump said today that Iran’s trade partners will face 25% tariffs from the United States as he looks to pressure Tehran over its violent protest crackdown that’s left nearly 600 dead across the country.
The US president has repeatedly threatened Tehran with US military action, if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force against antigovernment protesters. It’s a redline that Trump says he believes Iran is “starting to cross” and has left him and his national security team weighing “very strong options”.
Trump announced the tariffs in a social media posting, saying they would be “effective immediately”.
China, Brazil, Turkey and Russia are among economies that do business with Tehran.
Earlier, Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its crackdown on protesters in nationwide demonstrations that activists said today had left at least 599 people dead.
Iran had no direct reaction to Trump's comments, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — travelled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defence.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in remarks that blamed Israel and the US for the violence, without offering evidence.
“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by Al Jazeera. The Qatar-funded network has been allowed to report live from inside Iran, despite the internet being shut off.
However, Araghchi said Iran was “open to diplomacy”. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said that a channel to the US remained open, but talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation”.
Meanwhile, pro-government demonstrators flooded the streets today in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Others cried out: “Death to the enemies of God!” Iran’s attorney general has warned that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge.
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