Tensions between the US and Iran appear to be ratcheting up again after the international community paused typical foreign affairs to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Wednesday the United States would begin reimposing sanctions on foreign companies doing business with Iran on its nuclear sites, giving countries 60 days to wind down their operations.
In a statement, the nation’s top diplomat accused the Iranian regime of continuing what he called “its nuclear brinkmanship by expanding proliferation sensitive activities,” arguing that he could not justify renewing a sanctions waiver that had been in place beyond the 60-day wind-down period.
The move will impact companies from Russia, China, France, Germany and Italy, which will have two months to convert these nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes, Chris Ford, assistant secretary for international security and nonproliferation, told reporters after the department’s decision was announced.
For its part, Iran called on the White House to lift sanctions in an effort to help stop the spread of coronavirus back in April.
In response, the State Department asserted that all sanctions on the Middle Eastern country were unrelated to coronavirus response efforts.
“We have repeatedly said that US sanctions do not impede the Iranian regime’s response to the Covid-19 crisis,” State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus said at the time.
The department also accused Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of flatly rejecting an offer from the US for humanitarian assistance at the time.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani denied this claim, saying, “American leaders are lying … If they want to help Iran, all they need to do is to lift sanctions … Then we can deal with the coronavirus outbreak.”
The same day as Pompeo’s latest sanctions announcement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unveiled over 100 missile-launching speedboats that it said would boost the country’s naval power and allow it to challenge US naval power in the Gulf.
“Today we announce that wherever the Americans are, we’re right there beside you, and in the near future you will sense us even more,” Iranian naval commander Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said at the unveiling ceremony, according to the Xinhua news agency.
“Defense is our logic in war but not in the sense of passivity against the enemy,” IRGC Chief Commander Hossein Salami added during his remarks.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have spiked since President Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.