Trump calls November 5 sanctions 'very serious', says 'Iran is taking very big hit'

United States President Donald Trump on Friday stated that the sanctions which will be imposed on November 5 will hit Iran in a big way. While speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump described the sanctions as "toughest-ever" punitive measures for a "corrupt regime" in Tehran, news agency PTI reported.

"Iran is a much different country since I terminated that deal. That was one of the most ridiculous deals ever made by any country, at any time: the Iran nuclear deal," he said.

"They're very serious sanctions. They're very big. They'll be elevated from there. But, as you know, sanctions are starting on Iran and Iran is taking a very big hit," Trump added.

Trump pulled out of the 2015 landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May this year, terming it as "disastrous".

"And just today, we riposted all sanctions that were lifted under that horrible deal. We now have in place the toughest ever sanctions on a corrupt regime in Iran," Trump told his supporters at an election rally in West Virginia.

Under the Obama-era deal, involving five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, Iran agreed to stop its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

After the US' withdrawal from the deal, Trump signed fresh sanctions against Iran and warned countries against any cooperation with Tehran over its controversial nuclear weapons programme.

Iran has dismissed these charges and maintains that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said that the US will temporarily allow eight importers to keep buying Iranian oil when it re-imposes sanctions to try to force Iran to curb its nuclear, missile and regional activities. Pompeo, however, did not name the eight, which he referred to as "jurisdictions".

China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Japan have been top importers of Iran's oil, while Taiwan occasionally buys cargoes of Iranian crude but is not a major buyer.

"We will ultimately move Iran to zero crude oil. That'll take us some number of months to do that. We've been able to do that in a way that hasn't had a huge impact on crude oil prices. That's a good thing for American consumers," Pompeo said.

United States Special US Representative on Iran, Brian Hook, told reporters that these eight countries are among the top 20 oil importers from Iran, news agency Reuters reported.

"Our goal remains getting countries to zero imports of Iranian oil. In 2019, our projections are that oil supply will exceed demand, and that creates a much better atmosphere for us to bring remaining nations to zero as quickly as possible," Hook said.

(With inputs from agencies)