The White House has issued a directive to pause all new sanctions activity toward Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing a source close to the administration.
According to the report, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued the order last week, halting measures that had been part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing "maximum pressure" campaign.
The directive was passed to senior officials at the National Security Council, the Treasury Department, and the State Department, the report said.
While the White House did not deny the sanctions pause, deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to the Journal: “Any new decisions with regard to sanctions will be announced by the White House or relevant agencies within the administration.”
The report said that Trump officials view the move as a temporary slowdown aimed at reviewing potential sanctions more carefully amid sensitive nuclear negotiations, and that it was overinterpreted somewhere along the chain.
Others expressed concern that key policymakers have been out of the loop and surprised by the sweeping pause.
