Bolton on Iran: 'Our policy is not regime change'

A currency exchange bureau owner counts US dollars in downtown Tehran, Iran. Photo / AP file

The United States is "very serious" about applying pressure on Iran through the reinstatement of sanctions but is not seeking regime change, White House national security adviser John Bolton said today.

Bolton's remarks come as the Trump Administration reimposes the first round of trade sanctions against Iran following the US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May.

"Our policy is not regime change, but we want to put unprecedented pressure on the Government of Iran to change its behaviour, and so far, they've shown no indication they're prepared to do that," Bolton told Fox News.

He described the Iranian regime as standing "on very shaky ground" and argued that protests in the country were due to dissatisfaction with Iran's leaders and its collapsing economy rather than opposition to US sanctions.

Beginning tonight NZT, Iran will be prohibited from using US dollars, trade in metals and sales of Iranian-made cars will be banned, and permits allowing the import of Iranian carpets and food will be revoked, among other steps aimed at pressuring Tehran to change its behavior and renegotiate the nuclear accord.

Last month, President Donald Trump said he was willing to meet with Iran's leaders "anytime they want" and without preconditions. Bolton reiterated that invitation and said that "if the ayatollahs want to get out from under the squeeze, they should come and sit down."

"They should not underestimate our determination that we're going to put pressure on them until they give up their pursuit of nuclear weapons and all the other activities that I mentioned," Bolton said. "That, we are very serious about."

Iran explicitly agreed not to pursue nuclear weapons in the 2015 agreement. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Iran halted a nuclear weapons programme in 2003 and did not have one at the time of the accord.

Congressional reaction to the restoration of sanctions split largely along party lines.

.@AmbJohnBolton: Trump Admin Wants to Put 'Unprecedented Pressure' on Iranian Regime. https://t.co/VmSZC9rMAv

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 6, 2018

Republicans hailed the move as a much-needed step towards putting pressure on Iran to end its support for militants in the region, halt its ballistic missile programme and agree to modify sunset provisions in the nuclear accord.

"Under these new sanctions businesses throughout the world will have to choose to do business with the American economy or Iranian economy? You can't do both," Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted.

"Make Iran Great Again," he added, in a new twist on Trump's campaign slogan. "Dump the Ayatollah!"

Democrats argued that the move would make the world more dangerous, not safer.

Senator Richard Durbin, who was instrumental in shepherding the original Iran deal through Congress three years ago, said that he remains opposed to the Trump Administration's "irrational hostility" to the agreement.

"Today's actions, yet again, put the US in violation of this deal. It risks reopening a resolved conflict, and will divide us further from our European allies. President Trump's foreign policy is a dangerous gamble with nuclear weapons," Durbin said.