US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US has sanctioned the Iranian National Bank. "We have just sanctioned the Iranian National Bank – that is their central banking system – and it's going to be at the highest level of sanctions," he told reporters at the Oval Office before a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was present at the briefing, noted that “we’ve now cut off all sorts of funds to Iran.” The move comes days after Trump announced that he had ordered a “substantial increase” in sanctions on Iran. Tensions between the US and Iran have been on the rise and increased again this week after Saturday’s drone strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which the country said had disrupted about half of the kingdom's oil capacity, or 5% of the daily global oil supply. Trump said earlier this week that it’s “looking like” Iran was responsible for the weekend attacks. Iran has denied being responsible for the attack, which was claimed by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels who are backed by the Islamic Republic. (Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)
