WASHINGTON _ The Trump administration announced plans Friday to reimpose sanctions aimed at crippling Iran's shipping, banking and oil industries in an aggressive move that has roiled relations with U.S. allies.
The sanctions will go into effect Monday, a day before the midterm elections and six months after President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark Iran nuclear deal because, he said, it did not block Iran's other "malign" activities.
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo told reporters on a conference call that the new sanctions are aimed at "depriving revenue Iran uses to spread death and destruction."
Unlike the global coalition that forced Iran to abandon its nascent nuclear program in 2015, the Trump administration has struggled to enlist international support for its push to choke off Iran's daily export of 1 million barrels of crude oil, an amount already shrunken by previous U.S. sanctions.
Over the last six months, U.S officials have lobbied allies and other countries that import Iranian oil to shift to other sources before the sanctions hit, and have threatened to punish those that do not comply. But they have achieved only partial success.
About 20 countries have agreed to honor the embargo but some of the biggest consumers of Iranian oil, including China and Turkey, have not taken steps to reduce imports of Iranian crude, U.S. officials said.
The Trump administration has acknowledged that some countries are unable or unwilling to eliminate their reliance on Iranian oil, and the State Department will grant sanctions waivers to some governments or companies.
"Our goal remains to get to zero oil purchases from Iran as quickly as possible," said Robert Palladino, a State Department spokesman. "But we are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on a case-by-case basis."
Palladino said an internal review is seeking to identify countries eligible for "significant reduction exemptions." Allies from Iraq to India have sought the waivers.
The nuclear deal was negotiated with Iran by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, and all except the United States want to keep the 2015 accord intact _ and to find ways to sidestep the U.S. sanctions.
Some have proposed setting up private mechanisms to trade with Iran without entering the global financial network that Trump officials will try to block. The administration has told European companies that anyone caught doing business in Iran will be barred from operating in the United States.
The Trump administration claims its efforts have helped push Iran into a worsening economic crisis and a plunge in the national currency. Critics said the oil sanctions will further undermine the economy.
"Trump is showing his disdain for the Iranian people through these sanctions," Trita Parsi, founder of the National Iranian American Council, a nonprofit organization in Washington that advocated in support of the nuclear deal. "They will bear the brunt of this escalation, not the Iranian government. Iranian hospitals are already starting to report medical shortages as a result of financial sanctions that make banks reluctant to handle Iranian transactions."
Trump announced in May that he was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, calling it fatally flawed because it did not address Iran's production of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and its support for militant groups in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
The White House argues that the effects of the oil sanctions will be so severe that Iranian rulers will be forced to reopen negotiations and ultimately will relinquish their missiles and give up their "malign" activities in the Middle East.
Iranian officials have denounced the sanctions as a violation of an international agreement, and say they will not surrender to U.S. demands. The latest U.N. nuclear monitoring report shows Iran is still complying with the nuclear deal.
