US President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on any country doing business with Iran, ramping up pressure as a crackdown on protests continues.
Trump, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention, said in a social media post on Monday that the new levies would “immediately” hit the Islamic republic’s trading partners who also do business with the United States.
“This Order is final and conclusive,” he wrote, without specifying who they will affect.
Iran’s main trading partners are China, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, according to economic database Trading Economics.
Trump has been mulling his options on Iran, which has been roiled by more than two weeks of demonstrations that have defied a near-total internet blackout and lethal force.
Sparked by economic grievances, the nationwide protests have grown into one of the biggest challenges yet to the theocratic system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution ousted the shah.
Iranian authorities have blamed foreign interference for stoking the unrest and staged their own nationwide counter-rallies.
A map of Iran showing the locations of protests as posted on social media. —Reuters
Rights groups warned that the severed communications were aimed at masking a rising death toll.
The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said the internet shutdown has made it “extremely difficult to independently verify reports” of casualties.
“The international community has a duty to protect civilian protesters against mass killing by the Islamic republic,” said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
The White House said Monday that Trump remained “unafraid” to deploy military force against Iran, but was pursuing diplomacy as a first resort.
