Trump orders to 'substantially increase sanctions' on Iran

The United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had ordered the Secretary of the Treasury Steve Munchin to "substantially increase" the sanctions imposed on Iran, amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.

He did not give additional details on the move, which follows weekend attacks on oil facilities of Aramco in Saudi Arabia that some US officials have blamed on Iran.

Iran has denied those allegations. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group claimed responsibility for the strikes on a Saudi oil field and the world's largest crude processing plant. The attacks disrupted global oil supplies.

Saudi Arabia has said oil production would be fully recovered by the end of the month. Riyadh has said it would produce evidence linking Iran to the attack.

An already-tense relationship between Iran and the United States has worsened over the past year when Trump withdrew the United States from a nuclear pact with Iran and six other countries saying it did not go far enough and reimposed sanctions on Iran.

The tweet of the President read, "I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!"

I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2019