US President Donald Trump’s administration has let its sanctions waiver, under which Iraqi authorities were allowed to pay for electricity purchases from neighboring Iran, expire, a State Department spokesman said, signaling that Washington does not mean to allow any economic relief to Tehran.

“The president’s maximum pressure campaign is designed to end Iran’s nuclear threat, curb its ballistic missile program and stop supporting terrorist organizations,” he said.

“We urge the Iraqi government to eliminate its dependence on Iranian energy sources as soon as possible,” he added.

The exemption expired yesterday.

Earlier, a spokesman for the US president’s National Security Council, reacting to Tehran’s rejection of President Trump’s proposal to negotiate directly on Iran’s nuclear energy program, reiterated the warning that the Islamic Republic would be dealt with either by military means or by closing a deal.

“We hope that the regime in Iran will put its people and its interests above terror,” Brian Hughes said, after the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tehran would not negotiate because Washington was engaging in “intimidation.”