By Staff, Agencies

A US media report claimed that Washington paused new sanctions on Iran amid “maximum pressure” against the Islamic Republic and recent anti-Tehran sanctions, which were leveled amid indirect talks between the two countries.

According to a Sunday report by The Wall Street Journal, a directive from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt instructed US agencies to halt all new sanctions activity towards the Islamic Republic.

It said the reported hiatus had been communicated to top officials at the National Security Council (NSC), Treasury Department, and State Department, but the unusual nature of the directive -- coming directly from the White House press secretary rather than the NSC or Treasury -- had raised eyebrows.

It was followed by American officials’ raising questions about the future of President Donald Trump's so-called "maximum pressure" strategy towards Tehran, which has been central to Washington’s policy.

Trump initiated the approach during his previous tenure. The method was followed up on closely and even amplified under successor Joe Biden, and then kept up with full force during Trump’s current incumbency.

As part of the approach, the United States left a historic 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and other countries, walked back its partial removal of its sanctions on the Islamic Republic, and even began to pile up more illegal and unilateral coercive economic measures.

Trump’s current tenure has even seen him call, under the policy, for Iran to reduce its uranium enrichment levels to “zero,” even threaten to completely destroy the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, and warn he could start deploying a “massive maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

The approach has continued, although Washington has begun engaging in Omani-mediated talks with the country since April.

Ever since initiation of the approach under Trump’s former administration, Iran has refused to buckle under any component of the campaign.

It has called enrichment its integral right, and insisted that the talks have to focus solely on the nuclear issue and removal of the sanctions.