Trump announces additional sanctions on Iran amid tensions

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would put additional sanctions on Iran amid a recent rise in tensions between the two nations in the middle East.

"We're putting additional sanctions on. They're going on slowly and, in some cases, pretty rapidly, but additional sanctions are being put on Iran," he told reporters, adding some of them were already in place.

Trump said Friday he had called off a retaliatory strike on Iran. He said he did not like Iran knowingly shooting down a US spy drone earlier this week, but killing an estimated 150 people would have been excessive.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1142506680300789761

In a later tweet, Mr Trump said the "major additional sanctions" would come into force on Monday.

Tensions between the two have been escalating since Washington quit a nuclear pact with Tehran last year and reimposed economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Speaking with reporters outside the White House, Trump said he would be Iran's "best friend" if it abandoned its ambition to build a nuclear weapon, a claim denied by Tehran.

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/us-president-trump-approves-and-then-aborts-retaliation-military-strikes-against-iran/