The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iran targeting its unarmed aerial vehicle production after its attack on Israel, while US President Joe Biden said G7 leaders were committed to acting together to increase economic pressure on Tehran.
Biden said the United States and its allies had helped Israel beat back the April 13 missile and drone strike and were now holding Iran accountable with the new sanctions and export controls.
“The sanctions target leaders and entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s Defense Ministry, and the Iranian government’s missile and drone program that enabled this brazen assault,” Biden said in a statement.
Britain announced that it was also introducing sanctions on Iran in co-ordination with Washington. Iran’s behavior is unacceptable,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major Western powers in Italy.
“(It) is a message to Israel that we want to play our part in having a coordinated strategy that deals with Iran’s aggression,” he said.
The US Treasury Department said the US measures targeted 16 individuals and two entities enabling Iran’s UAV production, including engine types that power Iran’s Shahed variant UAVs, which were used in the April 13 attack.
Tehran says it carried out the attack in retaliation for a presumed Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus which killed two generals and several others on April 1.
Israel has said it will retaliate against Iran’s unprecedented launch of missiles and drones, while a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Thursday Iran could review its “nuclear doctrine” following Israeli threats.
Treasury said it was also designating five companies in multiple jurisdictions providing component materials for steel production to Iran’s Khuzestan Steel Company (KSC), one of Iran’s largest steel producers, or purchasing KSC’s finished steel products.
Also targeted were three subsidiaries of Iranian automaker Bahman Group, which it said had materially supported Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The statement said the US Commerce Department was also imposing new controls to restrict Iran’s access to technologies, such as basic commercial grade microelectronics.
Britain said it was sanctioning seven individuals and six entities, including the Armed Forces General Staff and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
The West has imposed repeated sanctions on Iran over the years, with Britain saying that it alone had introduced more than 400 different economic restrictions on Israel’s arch foe.
“We are using Treasury’s economic tools to degrade and disrupt key aspects of Iran’s malign activity, including its UAV programme and the revenue the regime generates to support its terrorism,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.
“We will continue to deploy our sanctions authority to counter Iran with further actions in the days and weeks ahead.”
European Union leaders also decided on Wednesday to step up sanctions against Iran after Tehran’s attack on Israel raised concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Source: SABC
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