US Gov't Preparing Fresh Sanctions against Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Using a recent missile test by Tehran as a pretext, the Obama administration is preparing to impose its first financial sanctions on Iran since Tehran and six world powers, including the US, reached a landmark nuclear agreement in July.
US officials told The Wall Street Journal that the planned action by the Treasury Department is directed at nearly a dozen companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for their alleged role in developing Iran’s ballistic-missile program.
Iranian officials have warned the White House in recent months that any such measures would be viewed as a violation of the July nuclear accord.
Senior US officials have said the Treasury retained a right under the agreement to blacklist Iranian entities allegedly involved in missile development, as well as those that are said to support international terrorism and human-rights abuses. Officials view those activities as separate from the nuclear deal.
The possible new sanctions are expected to be formally announced this week.
The sanctions being prepared by the Treasury Department relate to two Iran-linked networks alleged to be involved in developing the country’s missile program and include sanctions on many of the individuals involved. The sanctions would prohibit US or foreign nationals from conducting business with the blacklisted firms. US banks are also ordered to freeze any assets the companies or individuals hold inside the American financial system.
Iran in October successfully test-fired a homegrown ballistic missile dubbed ‘Emad’, a long-range guided projectile that can hit targets with high precision.
After the test, Britain, France, Germany and the United States asked a UN sanctions committee to investigate Iran’s missile test, branding it a “serious violation of UN resolutions”, a claim Tehran categorically rejects.
Tehran at the time denied that the missile launch was in violation of UN resolutions, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif saying that it was not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
Iran’s test of missiles is an issue relating to defense of its territorial integrity and has nothing to do with the comprehensive nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers or with a subsequent resolution the UNSC passed to endorse the accord, Iran’s foreign minister underscored in October.
Tension between Iran and the US heated up this week after the Pentagon on Wednesday accused Iran of launching a "highly provocative" rocket test last week near its warships and commercial traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a claim Iran categorically rejected as "psychological war".
Iranian diplomats have recently slammed the US for violating the nuclear agreement after Congress passed legislation that tightens visa-free travel to the US.
Foreign Minister Zarif said should the new law come into force, it would be tantamount to a breach of the JCPOA- the July nuclear deal between Tehran the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
Iranian officials called the visa requirement, in effect, a tax or sanction on international businessmen seeking to invest in the Iranian market.
However, US Secretary of State John Kerry in a letter to Zarif gave an assurance that Washington will remain committed to the nuclear deal.