Donald Trump has issued an executive action to increase pressure on Iran to cut a deal on its nuclear activities and help restore peace in the Middle East.

Under a National Security Presidential Memorandum he signed late on Tuesday, Trump ordered his government “to impose maximum economic pressure on the government of Iran, including by sanctioning or imposing enforcement mechanisms on those acting in violation of existing sanctions”.

Measures include the Treasury guiding shipping, insurance and port operators “about the risk to any person that knowingly violates US sanctions with respect to Iran or an Iranian terror proxy”.

The secretary of state will “modify or rescind existing sanctions waivers and cooperate with the Secretary of Treasury to implement a campaign aimed at driving Iran’s oil exports to zero”.

While signing the order, Trump and an aide said many of these provisions are similar to those taken during the first Trump administration between 2016 and 2020.

An aide told Trump: “The intent here is to give you all of the possible tools to … engage with the Iranian government to ensure that going forward they are less of a malign actor on the world stage.”

Trump responded: “This is one that I’m torn about … it’s very tough on Iran.

“I’m going to sign it but hopefully we’re not going to have to use it very much — we’ll see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran and everybody can live together, and maybe that’s possible and maybe it’s not possible.”

Follow-up statements by Trump on Wednesday suggest the US president sees the action as an opening move in talks he expects to hold with the Iranian leadership.

In a separate social media post, Trump said that rather than “blowing Iran into smithereens” he would “much prefer a verified nuclear peace agreement”, adding: “We should start working on it immediately.”

Iran has a nuclear programme, which it insists is for civilian purposes only.

During his first term, Trump withdrew from an international agreement governing Iran’s nuclear programme, saying this was a bad deal for America.

Increasing the impression of his executive action serving as a negotiating tactic, Trump said while signing it on Tuesday that “hopefully it will be a document which won’t be very important, will hardly have to be used”.

The US has been imposing draconian sanctions on Iran’s oil industry for years. Iran, however, still manages to sell its oil abroad, mainly to China.

Shipping players hope tighter sanctions on Iran could boost earnings for VLCCs and suezmaxes complying with American policy.

Trump signed the order shortly before a meeting in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been pushing the US for years to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear capabilities.

In the past, Tehran has threatened it would react to any attack against its territory by closing the Hormuz Strait — a key artery to international oil trade.

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