Trump reinstates ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran

President Donald Trump unveiled an executive order reinstating a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran on Tuesday, coinciding with a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. 

Trump voiced that he was “torn” about signing the order and admitted he was “unhappy to do it,” noting that the executive order was very tough on Iran. 

“Hopefully, we’re not going to have to use it very much,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. 

Trump later told reporters in a joint press conference with Netanyahu that he believes Iran is “close” to developing a nuclear weapon, but that the U.S. would stop a “strong” Tehran from obtaining one.

“They’re very strong right now, and we’re not going to let them get a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. 

The order instructs the Treasury Department to execute “maximum economic pressure” upon Iran through a series of sanctions aimed at sinking Iran’s oil exports. 

His first administration also adopted a “maximum pressure” initiative against Tehran, issuing greater sanctions and harsher enforcement for violations. 

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second from right, is shown with advisors ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump on Feb. 4, 2025. (GPO)

Lawmakers are also interested in exerting more pressure on Iran. For example, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John Fetterman, D-Penn., along with lawmakers in the House, introduced a resolution on Thursday that affirms that all options should remain on the table in dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat. 

Graham said in a statement Thursday that should Iran obtain a nuclear weapon it would prove “one of the most destabilizing and dangerous events in world history.” 

Additionally, Graham said ahead of Netanyahu’s visit that the moment is right to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat now, and that the U.S. should back Israel if it chooses to “decimate” Iran’s nuclear program.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a statement that should Iran obtain a nuclear weapon it would prove “one of the most destabilizing and dangerous events in world history.” (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“Israel is strong. Iran is weak. Hezbollah, Hamas have been decimated,” Graham said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.” “They’re not finished off, but they’ve been weakened. And there’s an opportunity to hit the Iran nuclear program in a fashion I haven’t seen in decades. And I think it would be in the world’s interest for us to decimate the Iranian nuclear threat while we can. If we don’t, we will regret it later.”

Strict sanctions were reimposed upon Iran after Trump withdrew from the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018. The 2015 agreement brokered under the Obama administration had lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear program. 

Meanwhile, Trump signaled in January some optimism about securing a nuclear deal with Iran when asked if he backed Israel striking Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

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President Donald Trump, left, unveiled an executive order reinstating a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran on Feb. 4, 2025, coinciding with a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to the White House. Here they are pictured in 2024.  (Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO) / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We’ll have to see. I’m going to be meeting with various people over the next couple of days,” Trump told reporters Jan. 24. “We’ll see, but hopefully that could be worked out without having to worry about it.”

“Iran hopefully will make a deal. I mean, they don’t make a deal, I guess that’s OK, too,” Trump said. 

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Other executive orders that Trump signed on Tuesday include pulling the U.S. out of the United Nations Human Rights Council and cutting funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.