Trump says major sanctions on Iran after drone downed

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said the US will impose major new sanctions on Iran on Monday, days after he abruptly called off a plan for airstrikes against the Islamic Republic based on the concept of proportionality after Iran shot down a US Navy drone.
The sanctions move, announced on Twitter with no additional detail, came as Trump spent the day at the Camp David presidential retreat having meetings and phone calls. The president foreshadowed the sanctions action earlier, in remarks at the White House. Trump told reporters he intended to impose additional economic sanctions and that military action is “always on the table until we get this solved” and that if Iran’s leadership “behaves badly, it’s going to be a very bad day for them.”
He also said that having the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping is less important to the US because of its large domestic oil production, and benefits China, Japan, Indonesia and other countries much more.
“We’ll see with Iran,” he said. “Everyone was saying I’m a warmonger and now they’re saying I’m a dove.” Instead, Trump offered, he is “a man with common sense.”
“I don’t want to kill 150 Iranians” unless it’s absolutely necessary, said Trump, expressing a fondness for Iranian people he’s known in New York. “Anything’s a lot when they shoot down an unmanned drone,” in terms of casualties.
Trump also said that Iran “had a plane in their sights, 38 people on the plane and they didn’t shoot it down. That was a very wise decision.”
That appeared to confirm a comment by an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general that a manned US spy plane was flying near the drone but that Iran chose not to target it. The US military’s Central Command hadn’t previously commented on the possible manned plane.
Trump praised General Joseph Dunford, who’s set to retire in October as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford was against a military strike at this point, said Trump, who called him “a terrific man and a terrific general.”
Regarding some of his more hawkish advisers, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, Trump said that having people on both sides of the debate is important but “the only one that matters is me.”
Echoing the types of comments he’s made about North Korea, Trump said he hoped he could “make Iran great again” over time. “Iran right now is an economic mess,” he said. Trump approved an offensive cyber strike that disabled Iranian computer systems used for rocket and missile launches, the Washington Post reported.

Iran to take ‘new steps’ on nuclear program in 2 weeks
Bloomberg

Iran will take “new steps” if Europe doesn’t meet a deadline in two weeks to take measures towards ensuring the Islamic Republic can reap the economic benefits of
the nuclear deal, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported, citing a senior foreign-policy aide.
Kamal Kharazi, chairman of the Strategic Foreign Relations Council, which is part of the Foreign Ministry and advises the government, said he met UK Foreign Office Minister Andrew Murrison in Tehran.
While Murrison’s statements were “repetitive,”
the UK official reiterated Britain’s support for the nuclear deal and the Instex payment channel which will allow Iran to buy food and medicines from Europe, Kharazi was quoted as saying.