Trump increases the tension with new sanctions on Iran

Pompeo, Trump and Bolton (Photo State Department/Public Domain)

US President Trump on Monday signed an order for new sanctions aggainst Iran that target the supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei and commanders of several military units. The order came af the downing by Iran of an American drone, that according to the US was in international airspace, but according to Iran flew above Iranian territory. The American measures are not only a way of retaliation, they also want to force Iran to hold talks about its nuclear policy and missile program, after America nullified the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement that five world powers in 2015 concluded with  Iran.
Secretary Mnuchin of the Treasur Department said that apart from Khamenei senior commanders of eight Navy, Aerospace, and Ground Forces of the Revolutionaru Guards Corps were hit by the sanctions. He also said that Foreign Minister Javad Sharif would be targeted next week. The accounts of Khameni and the commaners have been blocked and they cannot make use of American financial nsystesm anymore. According to Mnuchin's Treasury ''these commanders sit atop bureaucracy that supervices malicious reguional activities, including its provocative ballistic missile program, harassment and sabotage of commercial vessels in in ternational waters and its destabilizing presence in Syria''.
Trump said that the sanctions are a ''strong and proportionate response to Iran's incresasing provocative actions''. 
The US measure almost coincided with a statement by the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Britian which expressed concern over Middle East tensions and the dangers posed by Iranian ''destabilizing activity'' to peace and security in Yemen and the region.
US media reported that after the downing of the drone the US launched cyber attacks on Iranian rocket launch systems. But Iran's minister for information and communications Mohammed Javad Azari Jahromi sauid that ''they try hard but have not carried out a succesful attack''.
In the meantime it is becoming more and more clear that Trump's manoeuvring is bringing the situation to the brink of war. The  nullifying of the nuclear deal, the sanctions that were (again) imposed by Trump, wjcih also targeted countries that continued to deal with Iran or buy its oil, and the various events of the last few weeks - the attacks on the oil tankers of which Iran was accused, the downing of the drone, and now the new sanctions, all point to one thing: Trump wants to have Iran on its knees. Some of his staff, like Foreign Secretary Pompeo and Security Avisor Bolton even go furthe. They are in favor of regime change.
The West is not helpful in this situation. The EU tried a firm answer against Trump's abrogation of the nuclear pact, but failed to elaborate a device that stopped big companies from breaking off their ties with Iran out of fear to lose the American markets. Right now, when Iran is warning that it is loosening the constraints that the 2015 agreement imposed, France, Britain and Germany sent a diplomatic warning to Tehran telling that this is the wrong thing to do.
The British Foreign minister Hunt said ''We are very concerned. We don't think that either side wants a war, but we are very concerned that we could get into an accidental war''.
The problem is, however, that Europe fails to identify who in this case is the real bad guy, the one that really heightens the tensions and drives Iran in a corner. What counter measures is Iran supposed to take? It is not in a position to take counter measures, and in case it reacts aggressively, Trump already threatened with a lot of destruction. Nobody knows for sure that he isn't, after Iraq, Libya and Syria, aiming at destroying the Islamic Republic Iran.