What Happened A top official with the U.S. State Department warned April 2 that the White House was not planning to issue new waivers — which allow certain countries to purchase Iranian oil without coming under U.S. sanctions — once the current round expires May 5. According to an April 1 Reuters report, an official within U.S. President Donald Trump's administration also allegedly said that the United States was also considering imposing new secondary sanctions in May that would target additional areas of the Iranian economy, without providing further detail as to which. Meanwhile, the United Nations released a letter April 3 that the United Kingdom, France and Germany had written to the U.N. secretary-general criticizing Iran's recent attempt to launch a satellite into orbit via its Simorgh launch vehicle.