President Obama on Tuesday signed an executive order tightening sanctions on Iran over its nuclear-enrichment program.
The order implements a new Iran sanctions law enacted in August.
The White House said the administration’s actions “have created unprecedented pressure on Iran’s economy.”
“The
onus is on Iran to abide by its international obligations with respect
to its nuclear program. If the Iranian government continues its
defiance, there should be no doubt that the United States and our
partners will continue to tighten our sanctions and impose increasing
consequences,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a
statement.
Iran policy has become a focus of the presidential election this year. During a speech
Monday at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., GOP
candidate Mitt Romney repeated accusations that Obama is too soft on
Iran and too distant from Israel, which views Iran’s nuclear program as a
threat to its existence.
Romney has called on Obama to draw a
clearer red line to warn Iran that the United States will not tolerate
it gaining nuclear weapons. Critics of this view warn that it could bind
the U.S. and force an armed intervention.
The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act expands the list of
those targeted by Iran sanctions, closes loopholes and enhances
penalties.
Those targeted include anyone who works in Iran's
petroleum sectors or provides goods, services, infrastructure, or
technology to Iran's oil and natural gas sector, those who insure or
re-insure investments in Iran's oil sector and those who transport
refined petroleum to Iran. It also targets Iranian and Syrian officials
involved in human-rights abuses.
This law also tries to stop Iran
from repatriating revenue from oil, to further destabilize its currency
and make more sanctions mandatory.
Obama and Romney will answer a
mix of domestic and foreign policy questions during their second
debate, next Tuesday in Hempstead, N.Y. The third presidential debate,
dedicated to foreign policy, is scheduled for Oct. 22 in Boca Raton,
Fla.
