U.S. National Security Advisor: Maximum Pressure Policy on Iran Has Worked Before and Should Be Maintained

The National Security Advisor of the White House emphasized that the implementation of the maximum pressure policy on Iran during Donald Trump's previous presidency was effective and cut off financial resources for the Islamic Republic's proxy groups, stating: "We need to keep our foot on their throat." Michael Waltz said on Friday, February 22, at a Republican conference: "A few years ago, we saw that the maximum pressure campaign against Iran caused all of Iran's proxies, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and militias in Iraq, to have no money to continue their terrorism." He referred to an order signed by the President of the United States, saying: "We are returning to those policies that worked" and "we will keep our foot on the Iranian economy." Donald Trump signed a "national security memorandum" about resuming maximum pressure against Iran about three weeks ago, while emphasizing that he hopes there will be no need to implement this memorandum and that an agreement can be reached with Tehran. Trump has also stated multiple times that he prefers to reach a valid and verifiable nuclear agreement with Iran rather than taking military action. Michael Waltz also stressed in his remarks at the CPAC meeting that Iran "can never acquire a nuclear weapon" and "under President Trump's leadership, we will ensure that such an event does not occur." He also discussed the current situation in the Middle East, stating that Hezbollah has been "largely incapacitated," Assad has left Syria, and the "Tehran terrorism axis" has been fundamentally disrupted. On Thursday, Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, emphasized that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon during Donald Trump's presidency. He accused the Iranian government of using every dollar it receives for its military program and "supporting terrorism." Despite Donald Trump's recent statements and his willingness to negotiate with Iran, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic has opposed this. Ali Khamenei stated on February 8 that negotiating with the Trump administration is "not wise, not intelligent, and not honorable." Following this, senior officials of the Islamic Republic reiterated their support for these statements and emphasized their refusal to negotiate with the U.S. Meanwhile, the price of each U.S. dollar has increased by more than 9,000 tomans in the past two weeks, reaching nearly 94,000 tomans on Friday.