Trump says US will impose 'major' sanctions on Iran starting Monday

President Trump said on Saturday that his administration was preparing an additional round of "major" sanctions against Iran amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

"Iran cannot have Nuclear Weapons! Under the terrible Obama plan, they would have been on their way to Nuclear in a short number of years, and existing verification is not acceptable. We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday," he wrote in a tweet. "I look forward to the day that sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again - The sooner the better!"

Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters that his administration was moving forward with sanctions.

“They’re going on slowly and in some cases pretty rapidly," Trump said as he was departing for Camp David.

The president also confirmed in a tweet that he would discuss Iran at Camp David this weekend.

“I am at Camp David working on many things, including Iran!” he wrote.

Concerns about the possibility of a military confrontation rose on Thursday, after Iran shot down a U.S. spy drone over the Strait of Hormuz. Officials in Tehran and Washington have disputed whether the drone was in Iranian airspace or not.

Trump said in a tweet that the U.S. was “cocked & loaded” to retaliate on Thursday night, but that he ultimately decided against doing so because 150 people would have died.

“We want to be proportionate,” he said on Saturday, though he did not rule out the possibility of future military action against Iran.

“It’s always on the table until we get this solved,” he added. “We have a tremendously powerful military force in that area.”

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Trump announced last year that Washington would unilaterally withdraw from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, bucking U.S. allies while imposing a punishing round of economic sanctions.