Washington: Following its missile and drone strike against Israel this weekend, the United States imposed further sanctions against Tehran on Thursday, this time aimed at the nation’s unarmed aerial vehicle production.
The Department of Treasury of the US government said that the sanctions targeted 16 individuals and two entities affecting Iran’s UAV production, which also includes engine types which power Iran’s Shahed variant UAVs, which were used in the April 13 attack.
According to the US Treasury, it has also blacklisted five businesses across many countries that either buy completed steel products from Khuzestan Steel Company (KSC), one of Iran’s biggest steel producers or supply KSC with component ingredients for steel manufacturing. The US Treasury claimed in the statement that the three Bahman Group entities, which are owned by the Iranian automaker, had provided material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran.
The statement said that parallel to the Treasury action, Britain was imposing sanctions targeting several Iranian military organizations, individuals and entities involved in Iran’s UAV and ballistic missile industries. The statement by the US came after finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 industrial democracies said after a meeting on Wednesday that they would “ensure close coordination of any future measure to diminish Iran’s ability to acquire, produce, or transfer weapons to support destabilizing regional activities.”
European Union (EU) leaders also on Wednesday decided to step up sanctions against Tehran after its missile and drone attack on Israel left world powers scrambling to prevent a wider conflict in the Middle East. Iran claimed that it attacked on April 13 in reprisal for what it believed to be an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1. Israel said that it would retaliate, while a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander said on Thursday that Iran could review its nuclear doctrine after threats from Israel.
