Bolton: Coming Sanctions on Iranian Oil Will be 'More Profound'

The implications of the Trump administration's decision to re-instate sanctions against Iran will grow even "more profound" in November, when oil-related sanctions take effect and countries look elsewhere for their energy sources, National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday.

"We made it clear, our objective, [that] after the November sanctions kick in, no one should be buying oil from Iran," Bolton told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "We're working with all the governments involved for that purpose."

All around the world, he continued, "governments and businesses should ask themselves, regardless of the status of the international nuclear deal, 'why would you want to do business with the world's largest financier of international terrorism, the central bank of international terrorism?"

"Do your shareholders feel good you're doing business with a terrorist regime?" he said. "That is the sort of thing everybody needs to ask."

At midnight, all of the sanctions that existed before 2015, except for those related to oil and various financial transactions were re-instated, and that cuts deeply into the heart of Iran's ability to import manufactured goods, said Bolton.

"We think sanctions that went into effect at midnight began to have an effect back in May when the president pulled out of the wretched Iran nuclear deal," said Bolton. "Many businesses around the world didn't want to risk losing business in the United States in order to continue to do business with Iran. The implications are already pretty profound. They will grow more profound in November when the oil-related sanctions go into effect."

In an early morning tweet, President Donald Trump issued a warning through Twitter that the Iran sanctions are the "most biting sanctions ever imposed" and that "anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States."

Bolton on Tuesday also denied that the sanctions policy is an attempt to change the Iranian regime, but to put pressure on its government and deal with the nuclear weapons issue.

The nuclear deal reached during former President Barack Obama's administration is "basically not fixable," said Bolton.

"We want to see a much broader retreat by Iran for their support for international terrorism, their belligerent military activity in the Middle East and their ballistic missile nuclear-related programs," said Bolton. "There is a lot going on here that Iran needs to be held accountable for."

He also said he doesn't believe re-instating sanctions is worsening the United States' relations with European allies.

"We've been in constant communication in nearly four months I've been here," said Bolton, a former U.S ambassador to the United Nations. "I probably spent more time communicating with European allies on the Iran issue than any other single subject. We all share the same objective, making sure Iran doesn't get deliverable nuclear weapons."

European governments are still holding onto the nuclear deal, said Bolton, but businesses are "running from it as fast as they can."

He added that the government of India is cooperating about refusing to do business with Iran as well

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