Trump Says New Sanctions on Iran to Start Monday, Dials Back Rhetoric  by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff.

Between the first Democrat debates and the potential for Iranian fireworks, this will be one of the more interesting weeks of 2019.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would impose fresh sanctions on Iran, but that he wanted to make a deal to bolster its flagging economy, an apparent move to defuse tensions following the downing of an unmanned US drone this week by the Islamic Republic.

Candidate Donald Trump ran on “no wars” and “secure the borders”. He’s walking a tight line between the deep state which see military action as potential dollar signs and his political base which wants nothing to do with foreign fights. Iran certainly knows this, but its hubris could also be its undoing.

Trump offered an olive branch, the proverbial carrot and stick:

He (President Trump) later wrote on Twitter from Camp David: “We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday. I look forward to the day that Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again.”

Despite Iranian bluster and defiance, the US made a strong but none too subtle point when last week in response to the bringing down of a US drone it unleashed a cyber attack against the Iranian regime.

On Thursday, the Pentagon launched a long-planned cyber attack in retaliation for the oil tanker incidents, Yahoo News reported, citing former intelligence officials. The cyber strike disabled Iranian rocket launch systems, The Washington Post said on Saturday.

Despite the clear escalation by the Iranian regime, President Trump has both showed he can offer an open hand while at the same time show strength.  Anyone who has studied the Iranian theocracy clearly knows that strength is all they understand.  Without standing up to the Mullahs, regional conflict would be just around the corner.