US President Donald Trump has lost interest in renewing June’s interim agreement with Iran and prefers to exert economic pressure to secure more favorable terms for ending the war, according to sources who spoke Thursday with The Times of Israel.
Trump himself told reporters his new sanctions against Iran could extend to Chinese banks that do business with it, and said there were no talks at all between the US and Iran right now, even as Tehran’s top diplomat hosted his Qatari counterpart, a key mediator, to discuss the Strait of Hormuz.
Former Mossad chief David Barnea, an architect of the US-Israeli war against Iran, meanwhile hailed Trump’s new sanctions but said there would be no choice but to “intensify the economic, diplomatic and operational actions” against the Iranian regime until it falls.
The sanctions, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented on Monday, target Iran’s digital assets and technology, gold, aviation and shipping sectors. Potential secondary sanctions would affect entities in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Europe that transport Iranian oil.
A US official who spoke with The Times of Israel said Trump thinks sanctions will lead the Iranian regime to capitulate to more favorable terms on curbing its nuclear program and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
