US said planning targeted economic sanctions to push Iran out of Syria

A US soldier sits on an armored vehicle at a newly installed position in Manbij, north Syria, April 4, 2018

Times of Israel reports, “The Trump administration is reportedly planning to impose economic pressure including targeted sanctions in a bid to push Iranian forces out of Syria. The new plan, part of a broader White House strategy to contain Iran in the region, stops short of endorsing military force against Iran or its proxies in Syria, NBC News reported Tuesday. The new strategy employs targeted sanctions and the withholding of reconstruction aid to pressure Syrians to push foreign powers out of their war-ravaged country.”

“It calls for sanctions against Iranian or Russian companies working on reconstruction in Syria in a bid to limit their influence after the end of the civil war. It also calls for withholding American reconstruction aid to areas that continue to host Iranian or Russian forces, according to NBC News, which cited “five people familiar with the plan. Curbing “Iranian malign influence in Syria so that it cannot threaten the region, to include ensuring the withdrawal of Iranian-backed forces from Syria” is a key element of US President Donald Trump’s Syria strategy, according to an unnamed administration official quoted in the report.” (more…)