Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Restores Maximum Pressure on Iran

Fact Sheets

TLDR

This executive order outlines Trump’s February 2025 National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) targeting Iran through sanctions, counter-nuclear measures, legal actions, and international coordination to prevent nuclear weapons development and reduce oil exports, while Iran maintains its activities are legal and peaceful.

This “fact sheet” provides adminstrative propaganda regarding President Trump’s has signing of a significant National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) on February 4, 2025, implementing a comprehensive strategy to counter Iran through multiple channels.

Key Policy Objectives

Nuclear and Missile Prevention

Iran currently possesses over 3,000 ballistic missiles, making it the largest arsenal in the Middle East. The NSPM aims to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, particularly significant as Iran is now producing uranium near weapons-grade levels.

Economic Measures

  • Treasury Department directed to impose maximum sanctions and enforcement mechanisms
  • Campaign to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero through State Department actions
  • New guidance for business sectors about sanctions violation risks

Security and Legal Actions

The Attorney General is tasked with:

  • Investigating and disrupting Iranian-sponsored financial networks within the US
  • Prosecuting leaders of Iranian-funded terrorist groups who have harmed American citizens

International Coordination

The US will work through the UN to reinstate international sanctions on Iran. This comes as Iran has tested over 30 nuclear-capable ballistic missiles since 2015, demonstrating the urgency of international cooperation.

Market Impact

The announcement has already affected oil markets, with Brent crude prices showing volatility, trading as low as $74.15 per barrel before closing at $76.2 per barrel.

Iranian Response

While Trump expressed openness to dialogue, stating “I want Iran to be peaceful and successful”, Iran views this as an aggressive policy aimed at undermining its sovereignty. The timing coincides with Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, adding diplomatic significance to the announcement.

Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) restoring maximum pressure on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and countering Iran’s malign influence abroad.

  • The NSPM establishes that:

    • Iran should be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles;

    • Iran’s terrorist network should be neutralized; and

    • Iran’s aggressive development of missiles, as well as other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities, should be countered.

  • The NSPM directs the Secretary of the Treasury to impose maximum economic pressure on the Government of Iran, including by sanctioning or imposing enforcement mechanisms on those acting in violation of existing sanctions.

    • The Treasury Secretary will also issue guidance for all relevant business sectors – including shipping, insurance, and port operators – about the risks to any person that knowingly violates U.S. sanctions with respect to Iran or an Iranian terror proxy.

    • The Secretary of State will also modify or rescind existing sanctions waivers and cooperate with the Secretary of Treasury to implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero.

    • The United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations will work with key allies to complete the snapback of international sanctions and restrictions on Iran.

PROTECTING THE HOMELAND FROM IRAN: The previous Administration’s tolerance of Iran’s threats to American citizens and companies ends now.

  • The Attorney General will pursue all available legal steps to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute financial and logistical networks, operatives, or front groups inside the United States that are sponsored by Iran or an Iranian terror proxy.
    • The Attorney General will prosecute leaders and members of Iranian-funded terrorist groups that have captured, harmed, or killed American citizens and seek their arrest and extradition to the United States.

TAKING IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM OFF THE TABLE: President Trump will not tolerate Iran possessing a nuclear weapons capability, nor will he stand for their sustained sponsorship of terrorism, especially against U.S. interests.

  • In 2020, President Trump declared that “as long as [he is] President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.”
  • Today’s NSPM fulfills the President’s 2020 vow to contend with Iran’s pernicious influence across the globe:
    • “For far too long — all the way back to 1979, to be exact — nations have tolerated Iran’s destructive and destabilizing behavior in the Middle East and beyond. Those days are over. Iran has been the leading sponsor of terrorism, and their pursuit of nuclear weapons threatens the civilized world. We will never let that happen.”