Iran–United States relations

The US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in recent days in a sanctions enforcement operation, three sources said, and days later Iran seized another oil-laden tanker in retaliation, according to a maritime security firm.

The vessel is managed by Greece-based Empire Navigation.

Expert Jonathan Schanzer, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Senior Vice President for Research, joins Thanos Davelis to look into the Supreme Court decision this week that the Turkish state-owned Halkbank remains subject to criminal prosecution in US courts for conspiring to evade US sanctions against Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that Israel would continue its "fight" to prevent arch-foe Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, during a Holocaust ceremony attended by Iran's exiled crown prince.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on at least four Turkey-based entities it said violated US export controls and helped Russia's war effort, in the biggest US enforcement action in Turkey since the invasion of Ukraine last year.

Last year saw escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war.  However, it is expected that the biggest crisis the world will face this year will arise in the Middle East. 

Late last month, as part of its monitoring of Iran's nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported trace amounts of uranium at 84% enrichment. That's important, because 90% enrichment is required to produce a nuclear weapon.

A top Iranian diplomat insisted Wednesday that the Islamic republic was willing to cooperate over its atomic programme, even as western powers slammed a "dangerous nuclear escalation".

The comments come amid speculation about Washington's possible involvement in a recent drone attack on an Iranian military factory.
"Using the military option at any level means US entering into war," Tehran's permanent mission to the UN told Newsweek on Monday. Iran currently considers such a possibility to be weak, according to the statement.

Bomb-carrying drones targeted an Iranian defense factory in the central city of Isfahan overnight, authorities said early Sunday, causing some damage at the plant amid heightened regional and international tensions engulfing the Islamic Republic.

The US Treasury Department's top sanctions official on a trip to Turkey and the Middle East next week will warn countries and businesses that they could lose US market access if they do business with entities subject to US curbs as Washington cracks down on Russian attempts to evade sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.