Donald Trump orders new sanctions against Iran's supreme leader and associates
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Donald Trump has signed into force new "hard-hitting" sanctions against Iran, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as tensions continue to rise between Washington and Tehran
Mr Trump said that the issue of the US drone downed by Iran last week “could probably add that into this” but that the sanctions were “something that was going to happen anyway.”
The president is also facing criticism on multiple fronts as the week begins, including domestic outcry over the treatment of migrant children held in “filthy” border detention centres. Meanwhile, questions have been raised after documents were released showing the president's transition team "red flagged" the appointed of a senior general for a top administration post over his opposition to the use of torture.
After postponing the mass deportation of immigrants at the request of Democrats over the weekend, the president gave an interview to NBC’s Meet the Press in which he fielded questions about possible Russian election hacking in 2020, the state of the US economy, and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Meanwhile, as Mr Trump went after Iran, the 2020 race to take on the president is in full swing.
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The biggest headlines of the day on that front came from Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. Mr Sanders drove the day by introducing an ambitious plan to make public college and universities free — and a significant reduction in American student loan debt.
Mr Buttigieg, meanwhile, faced conflict in South Bend, where an officer involved shooting of a black man has laid bare the racial tensions in that city and across the country.
Mr Sanders is weaving in his attacks on Wall Street into his call for student loan reform.
He says his plan would be "fully paid for" by a tax on Wall Street speculation, after noting that Wall Street was bailed out after the 2008 financial crash — but middle class homeowners impacted by banking loan policy were not
"Now it is time for Wall Street to come to the aid of the middle class of this country," he said.
Mr Sanders has compared his plan to make college tuition virtually free to historic precedence: the GI Bill, and the establishment of the federal Pell Grant programme.
The White House was put under lockdown on Monday morning, according to reporters who cover the administration.
Journalists posted messages on social media announcing the lockdown as they were assembled in the White House press briefing room, where they have not had a briefing in nearly 100 days.
“We are literally locked in here,” wrote Megan Pratz, a reporter for Cheddar. “We can’t see much but Secret Service officers just ran across the lawn.”
The Secret Service posted a statement on Twitter minutes later saying the agency was “responding to an incident involving a suspicious package located on Pennsylvania Ave.”
Mr Trump said the executive order “will deny the Supreme Leader and the Supreme Leader’s office and those closely affiliated with him and the office access to key financial resources.”
“These measures represent a strong and proportionate response to Iran’s increasingly provocative actions,” Mr Trump said.
There are also some reports that Washington will add Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif to the sanctions list later this week.
Steven Mnuchin has addressed reporters currently on lockdown in the White House briefing room, saying, “The President has also instructed me that we will be designating Javad Zarif later this week.”
Mr Zarif currently serves as Iran’s foreign minister.
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