On February 4, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) stating that Iran’s malign behavior and influence threaten the national interest of the United States and that it is “in the national interest to impose maximum pressure on the Iranian regime to end its nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program, and stop its support for terrorist groups.” According to the EO, it is U.S. policy that: (i) Iran be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles; (ii) Iran’s network and campaign of regional aggression be neutralized; (iii) the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its surrogates be disrupted, degraded, or denied access to the resources that sustain their destabilizing activities; and (iv) Iran’s aggressive development of missiles and other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities be countered.
To impose maximum pressure on Iran, the EO directs various cabinet secretaries to implement measures to impede Iran’s efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon and to counter that country’s malign influence. Among these measures are:
- Treasury – the imposition of further sanctions on Iran and the implementation of a more robust sanctions enforcement regime;
- State – the modification or rescission of certain sanctions waivers and the implementation of a robust and continual campaign to drive Iran’s export of oil to zero, including exports of Iranian crude to China;
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations – working with allies to complete the snapback of all international sanctions and restrictions on Iran;
- Commerce – the conduct of an export control enforcement campaign to restrict the flow of technology and components used by Iran for military purposes; and
- U.S. Attorney General – the pursuit of all available legal steps to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute financial and logistical networks, operatives, or front groups inside the United States that are sponsored by Iran or an Iranian terror proxy.