The U.S. government is considering additional sanctions against Iran that would target areas of its economy that have not been hit before, a senior U.S. administration official said.
According to the official, the administration aimed to follow through with new sanctions around the first anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and several world powers, which President Donald Trump announced last May.
"We just want a continued chilling effect. We want businesses to continue to think doing business with Iran is a terrible idea at this point," Reuters cited the official as saying.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration hoped to take the additional measures in the coming weeks.
"The more we can do around the anniversary, the better," the official said, while adding that it takes time to put such sanctions together and that the U.S. Treasury Department was working on them.
Washington has granted waivers to eight Iranian oil buyers, but could change that. The official said the United States had the ability not to give those waivers at all. "That, I think, is where we’re headed," the official added.
