Trump is going back to his prior harsh stance on Iran. this should be bullish for oil, which was down 3% today before the report.
The official cited said the order is aimed at denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon and countering Iran’s ‘malign influence’. The official said the pressure includes sanctions and enforcement mechanisms for those violating existing sanctions.
During his first term, Trump was able to curb Iran’s oil exports but Biden turned more of blind eye to enforcement and that allowed oil to flow out of Iran, and largely to China though often classified as Malaysian oil.
Update: The order says the Secretary of State will modify or rescind existing sanctions waivers and cooperate with the Treasury to implement a campaign “aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero“.
WTI has bounced about $1.20 in very short order on this.