On Thursday, the US treasury department blacklisted 18 major Iranian banks in the latest assault as part of its so-called maximum pressure campaign against the country

The US is considering issuing an executive order within days which will threaten secondary sanctions against countries or firms buying or selling arms from and to Iran

Delegates from Iran, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany said the deal was a key component in the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture. They also rejected US bids to trigger snapback sanctions

The admissibility of the notice submitted by Pompeo last week was questioned by 13 out of 15 members of the UNSC. Even US allies have pointed out that having left the deal in 2018, it cannot ask for sanctions

The US withdrew from the JCPOA or the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. However, it is now trying to get sanctions imposed on Iran claiming violations of a deal it is not even part of

The United States, despite no longer being part of the JCPOA or the Iran nuclear deal, has been seeking the resumption of sanctions against Iran for supposed violations of the provisions of the deal

The latest US threat of resuming sanctions comes after its failure to get the UN Security Council’s approval for an indefinite extension of the international arms embargo against Iran which is set to expire on October 18

The US withdrew the last set of exemptions provided to some foreign companies to work on Iranian nuclear sites in May, which also marked the second anniversary of Donald Trump administration’s renewed aggression against Iran.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced the end of exemptions provided under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to some foreign companies to work on certain Iranian nuclear sites. The waiver was renewed every 60 days despite the unilateral US withdrawal from the deal in 2018

The US has threatened to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran if its draft resolution to extend the arms embargo is vetoed in the UN Security Council

The deal was for the supply of medical equipment to Iran. INSTEX was devised in 2018 by Germany, France and the UK as a special purpose vehicle to bypass the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US

Several countries have appealed to the Trump administration to lift the existing sanctions against Iran to enable the government to fight the Coronavirus outbreak in the country