Trump restores 'maximum pressure' policy on Iran, hopes for nuclear deal

The continuation of long-term support for these projects is expected to be reviewed during the 30-day period.

Trump signed an executive order on January 20, his first day in office, suspending foreign development assistance for 90 days to allow for a review of its efficiency and alignment with his America First policy stance.

The decision left Iranian human rights activists concerned about its impact on Iran-related programs, with some saying the order could help Tehran further restrict its people’s access to information.

Following the executive order, the State Department halted most ongoing foreign aid programs and paused the initiation of new assistance, according to an internal memo distributed to officials and US embassies abroad.

Official government figures show Washington is the world's biggest donor of international aid, spending $39 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, out of which $65 million was allocated to funding State Department-administered Near East Regional Democracy (NERD).

The body is the main foreign assistance channel through which the United States has supported civil society and human rights in Iran since 2009, according to the Congressional Research Service.

A part of the US funds covers the expenses of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services which ordinary Iranians used to circumvent the Islamic Republic’s censorship. Many of these services will have to stop their operation following the aid cut.

“It is a very dangerous move, because the issue of internet freedom is very vital, both to the people of Iran and the allies of Iranian people in the West,” a cyber security expert based in Silicon Valley told Iran International on condition of anonymity.

Trump’s order, an internet activist told Iran International, deprives 20 million Iranians, or a fifth of the population, of US-supported VPNs they use to bypass Tehran’s internet curbs.

At their peak during the “Woman Life Freedom” protests in 2022, VPN usage in Iran hit two-third of the population. “In today’s Iran, the internet has no meaning without VPNs,” writes internet activist Soroush Ahmadi in an article for Peace Line journal, which is published by the Virginia-based NGO “Human Rights Activists in Iran”.

The VPNs commercially available in the Iranian market are believed to be controlled by the Islamic Republic and even sold by entities affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards who profit from the needs of Iranians to gain unfettered access to the internet.

The two leaders are due to meet in the White House on Tuesday, in Trump's first meeting with a foreign head of state in his second term.

Trump in the first hours of his new term credited Israel with badly weakening Iran over the course of a 15-month conflict in the region.

"I hope to see maximum pressure on Iran, cutting off their oil revenues and doing everything we can to stop the Ayatollah," Texas senator Ted Cruz told Iran International when asked about his expectation from the Trump-Netanyahu meeting.

Ahead of the talks, Trump signed a directive restoring his so-called "maximum pressure" strategy on Iran from his first term.

Long opposed to foreign wars, Trump has nevertheless adopted a hard line on Iran, saying Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon but also suggesting Washington should not pursue regime change.

After signing the memorandum, Trump said he hoped he would not have to follow through on the memorandum. "We will see if we can work out a deal with Iran," he said, adding he would reach out to Tehran and hold talks with his Iranian counterpart - without specifying whom - to convince Iran to give up what Washington sees as moves toward a nuclear bomb.

"There isn't a person walking in these halls including Democrats that would be for the number one sponsor of terror in the world, the Iranians, having a nuclear weapon," Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin told Iran International.

Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, but Israel has long contended that a bomb in the hands of its arch-enemy poses an existential threat.

"There is no way. They should never have it. You can't trust what they say, so even diplomacy doesn't work. You have to touch their wallet where they can't afford to build it," Mullin added, referring to economic pressure.

"Obviously, we're not for Iran getting nuclear weapons," Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville said. "I think it'd be disastrous not just for us, but for them as it puts them as a target ... you've got to be able to control them," he added.

“The resistance has gone through a difficult and significant period; it must rebuild itself, rebuild its forces, and apply the lessons learned from this war," Abbas Araghchi told a news conference at a Gaza-related event in Tehran on Tuesday.

“We are confident that the resistance will return to the field stronger than before.”

His remarks come as Gaza faces widespread devastation following Israel’s military response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Israeli bombardments and ground operations have left much of the enclave in ruins, with tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced.

A long-sought ceasefire-for-hostages deal was brokered on January 15 after intense negotiations in Doha, mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The armed cadres and military infrastructure of group, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and Britain, have been pummeled by a devastating Israeli incursion into the enclave.

Araghchi said that so-called resistance groups must adapt now that the conflict in Gaza is paused. The array of Islamist armed factions in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen have long been funded and armed by Tehran.

Israel decapitated the leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon and helped bring about the downfall of the Assad dynasty in Syria, Iran's oldest Arab ally.

Still, Araghchi said Israel had been defeated in the conflict and described the ceasefire as tenuous.

"Some think that this regime, due to this feeling (of defeat), may take action and violate the ceasefire, which is not unlikely given the nature of the criminal Zionist regime."

“The resistance movement is a school of thought and ideology that cannot be eliminated with weapons,” Araghchi added. “Its main weapon is not conventional arms; it is the blood of the martyrs.”

The bureau has released posters seeking information on the two men with a combined reward of up to $25 million - $5 million from the FBI and $20 million from the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program - for information leading to Levinson's location.

The two Iranian intelligence officers identified by the FBI are Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai. The FBI alleges that Baseri and Khazai, acting as officials of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), orchestrated Levinson's abduction, subsequent detention and likely death.

The former FBI agent vanished during a freelance investigation in Kish Island, southern Iran, in 2007. His disappearance has remained an open case for the FBI, which has vowed to bring him home.

Iranian officials have never acknowledged detaining Levinson.

"The FBI remains steadfast in our commitment to return Bob to his family," said Sanjay Virmani, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division.

“Our extensive investigation continues to develop new leads and intelligence, and we will pursue all options to hold every Iranian official involved in his abduction accountable.”

The US Treasury Department previously sanctioned both Baseri and Khazai in December 2020 for their roles in Levinson's disappearance.

His family announced that he was presumed dead in March 2020, on the advice of US officials.

The Levinsons said in a 2023 statement, “We will never stop demanding that Iranian leaders answer for what happened to Robert Levinson, the greatest man we have ever known. His abduction on Iranian soil in March 2007, his years of imprisonment with a total lack of any human rights or decency, and ultimately his murder, are on their hands.”

Mai Sato addressed Article18’s joint side event at the UN in Geneva in late January, calling it a “timely opportunity” to assess the reality faced by Christian communities in Iran. Article18, a nonprofit organization, advocates for persecuted Christians in Iran and promotes religious freedom.

Sato spotlighted the plight of Christians in Iran the day before the country's Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a key UNHRC mechanism aimed at improving human rights, with Iran being one of 14 countries under review by the UPR Working Group.

Sato noted that previous UN rapporteurs had raised concerns about the systemic persecution of Christians in Iran in 2011, 2013, 2018, and 2020, yet little progress has been made.

“The violations reported in these communications mirror the very issues that presenters at this event will be discussing today,” she said, citing multiple breaches of Iran’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran ratified in 1975.

These include restrictions on religious freedom, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, privacy, and non-discrimination.

Titled "Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Legal Protections vs. Lived Realities," the Article18 event also included testimonies from individuals affected by religious persecution.

Sato urged civil society and what she called other stakeholders, to continue sharing evidence of Christian persecution and other religious minorities, saying the reports help keep the issue on the international agenda.

UN Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Nazila Ghanea also contributed to the event.

In her remarks, Ghanea noted Article18's latest report's findings of the Iranian government's discriminatory treatment of Christian converts, citing severe sentencing in 2024, with 96 Christians facing 263 years in prison, 37 years of internal exile, and substantial fines, emphasizing the human cost behind these figures.

Although Christians are acknowledged as a religious minority in Iran, authorities impose severe penalties, particularly on those who convert from Islam to Christianity.