Trump Delegates Authority for Implementing Iran and Russia Sanctions to Tillerson

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump delegated his powers in enforcing sanctions against Iran, Russia, and North Korea to his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The directive, released by the White House on the evening of October 7, also designates the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of National Intelligence as executors of certain sanctions and overseers of their implementation. According to this directive, the President's powers under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, and the Ukraine Security Assistance Act, both passed in 2014, have been delegated to the Secretary of State. The so-called Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which targets Russia, Iran, and North Korea, was initially passed in the U.S. Senate this spring under the title of countering Iran's destabilizing activities. However, in addition to the Senate attaching sanctions against Russia to this bill, the House of Representatives altered the structure of the bill, transforming it into a law targeting sanctions against Iran, Russia, and North Korea. Following these changes, the U.S. Senate passed the bill again for final approval, which was then signed into law by the President. Although the strong support of many members of Congress effectively made a potential veto by the President impossible, doubts were raised at that time regarding whether Trump would sign it, even though the White House had indicated that the President would align with this process, especially after the changes made in the House of Representatives. Ultimately, Trump signed the bill on August 2, although he described it at the time as 'seriously flawed,' stating that it 'clearly contains provisions outside the Constitution.' Nearly two months after the signing of this law, two U.S. senators recently criticized the 'delay in implementing this law.' According to a Reuters report, Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin stated in a letter to Trump that the U.S. government had not begun to implement the law nearly two months after its signing. The letter noted that under the law, the government was required to prepare 'regulations and guidelines' to identify individuals acting on behalf of defense and security sectors by the beginning of October for potential sanctions, but with just two days left until this deadline, no information had been provided in this regard. This letter was prepared on Thursday, and Reuters saw a copy of it on Friday. The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act imposes strict sanctions on Iran, Russia, and North Korea, concerning Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential elections, Iran's ballistic missile program, and North Korea's nuclear weapons development program. Meanwhile, Russia has denied any interference in the U.S. elections; Iran considers strengthening its missile capabilities a red line, and North Korea's missile and nuclear tests in recent months have created a new crisis in this regard.