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WASHINGTON, DC – The United States has hit senior officials and the manufacturing and metal sectors in Iran with new sanctions in retaliation for an attack on Wednesday on U.S. and allied troops stationed in Iraq.

Addressing a joint news conference with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday said: “The President is issuing an executive order authorising the imposition of additional sanctions against any individual owning, operating, trading with, or assisting sectors of the Iranian economy including construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining.”

The new sanctions come amid heightened tension between Tehran and Washington. Iran carried out the missile strikes in retaliation for the U.S. drone attack that killed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last week, CNN reported.

Through the sanctions, the U.S. is planning to further isolate Iran in the hopes that it will return to the table to renegotiate the 2015 Nuclear deal aimed at limiting Tehran nuclear program. Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and since then has imposed economic sanctions.

Additionally, the U.S. is announcing 17 specific sanctions against Iran’s largest steel and iron manufacturers, three Seychelles-based entities, and a vessel involved in the transfer of products.

“Today, the United States is taking a series of actions in response to Irans attacks against U.S. forces and interests, and to deprive the Iranian regime of revenue to conduct its violent foreign policy.We will continue to hold individuals and entities accountable for supporting the Iranian regimes many fronts of terror,” Secretary of State Mike Pomep told the press conference.

“We are sanctioning eight senior Iranian leaders, including Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Gholamreza Soleimani, the Commander of the Basij, and six other senior officials for being appointed by, or acting for or on behalf of, the Supreme Leader. These individuals have carried out Irans terror plots and campaigns of mayhem across the region and are complicit in the recent murders of around 1,500 Iranians protesting for freedom.”

“The Iranian regime exploits revenue from its metals industry to fund its destabilizing activities. Accordingly, the Department of State is sanctioning Pamchel Trading (Beijing) Co., Ltd. pursuant to section 1245 the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act for transferring 29,000 metric tons of steel from an Iranian firm that is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The Department of the Treasury is similarly sanctioning twenty-two entities and three vessels pursuant to E.O. 13871, for operating in the iron, steel, aluminum, or copper sectors of Iran, and related activities,” the secretary said.

“The President will also issue an Executive Order authorizing the imposition of sanctions with respect to additional sectors of the Iranian economy, including: construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining. This action will significantly expand the United States ability to target this regimes various revenue streams.”

“As President Trump said yesterday, our sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior. The civilized world must send a clear and unified message to the Iranian regime: Irans campaign of terror, murder, and mayhem will not be tolerated any longer. The United States calls on all nations to stand against the Iranian regimes ideology of terror and to hold Iran accountable for its violence,” Pompeo said.

Last year, the administration targeted Iran’s largest shipping company and a major airline for their role in transporting material for the country’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

In late June, new sanctions were imposed on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, and his office to block access to the international finance system. A few weeks later, the administration also added Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister and its top negotiator on the nuclear deal, to the sanctions list. (ANI/Big News Network)