We see a favourable outlook for the negotiations, Iranian president says<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fresh US sanctions target Iran\u2019s oil trade and weapons networks.AFP file<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dubai: The United States on Wednesday announced a new round of\u00a0sanctions targeting Iran\u2019s oil trade\u00a0and weapons networks, intensifying what Washington calls its \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign even as Iranian negotiators travelled to Geneva for high-stakes nuclear talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US Treasury Department said the measures target more than 30 individuals, entities and vessels accused of facilitating \u201cillicit Iranian\u00a0petroleum sales\u201d and supporting Tehran\u2019s\u00a0weapons programmes. Particular focus was placed on ships operating within Iran\u2019s so-called \u201cshadow fleet,\u201d which Washington says covertly transports Iranian oil to foreign markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds,\u00a0procure components\u00a0for its nuclear and conventional weapons programmes, and support its terrorist proxies,\u201d US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sanctions move comes ahead of a third round of Oman-mediated negotiations between Washington and Tehran, scheduled for Thursday in Geneva, aimed at resolving the long-running dispute over Iran\u2019s nuclear activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the mounting pressure, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a hopeful tone, expressing confidence in diplomacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>\u201cWe see a favourable outlook for the negotiations,\u201d Pezeshkian said, adding that Iran was pursuing talks \u201cunder the guidance of the supreme leader\u201d to move beyond the prolonged \u201cneither war nor peace\u201d situation with the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n US President Donald Trump, however, reiterated his hardline stance, warning that Iran would never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. In his latest address, Trump accused Tehran of harbouring \u201csinister nuclear ambitions\u201d and claimed Iran was developing missiles capable of eventually striking the United States \u2014 assertions dismissed by Iran as \u201cbig lies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The diplomatic push unfolds amid heightened military signalling. Washington has expanded its naval presence in the Middle East, while Iran has conducted fresh military drills near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to regional tensions, a Hezbollah official told AFP that the Lebanese movement would not intervene militarily in the event of \u201climited\u201d US strikes on Iran, though any direct targeting of Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would cross a \u201cred line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lebanese authorities fear a wider escalation could trigger a chain reaction, with one official warning of \u201cvery horrible and unpredictable consequences\u201d should conflict spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hezbollah remained on the sidelines during last year\u2019s brief Israel-Iran war, but officials cautioned that continued hostilities could test that restraint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We see a favourable outlook for the negotiations, Iranian president says Fresh US sanctions target Iran\u2019s oil trade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-politics"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54.jpeg",480,320,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54-300x200.jpeg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54.jpeg",480,320,false],"large":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54.jpeg",480,320,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54.jpeg",480,320,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54.jpeg",480,320,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54.jpeg",480,320,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-54.jpeg",480,320,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Naeema"]},"category_info":"GOVERNMENT<\/a> POLITICS<\/a>","tag_info":"POLITICS","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181,"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naeemahalketbiview.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Third round of talks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hezbollah red line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n