Trump threatens to 'substantially' increase sanctions against Iran

Donald Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday, claiming that Iran was in violation of the "terrible" $150bn deal made by John Kerry during the Obama administration, accusing it of secretly "enriching" uranium.

"Iran has long been secretly 'enriching', in total violation of the terrible $150bn deal made by John Kerry and the Obama Administration. Remember, that deal was to expire in a short number of years," said the President.

Trump then went on to state that sanctions would soon be increased, "substantially".

Iran has long been secretly “enriching,” in total violation of the terrible 150 Billion Dollar deal made by John Kerry and the Obama Administration. Remember, that deal was to expire in a short number of years. Sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 10 July 2019

Over the weekend, Trump issued a warning to the Middle East nation after it moved to increase uranium enrichment beyond the purity threshold reached in the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Washington, the UK, EU, Germany, France, China and Russia, which left it out of compliance.

Tehran had previously warned that it would increase uranium enrichment if the deal's European signatories failed to help ease the sanctions placed on its banking and oil sectors by the US after it unilaterally left the deal in early 2018.

"Iran better be careful," Trump said on Sunday. "Because you enrich for one reason and I won't tell you what the reason is. But it's no good - they better be careful," he said.

The Trump administration also imposed sanctions on three senior Hezbollah officials in Lebanon on Tuesday, accusing them of having a "malign agenda" of supporting the Iranian government.

The sanctions marked the first time the White House had directly targeted members of Lebanon's Parliament and underscored its intention to ratchet up pressure on Iran by punishing groups with links to Tehran.