SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States imposed fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting the steel sector on Tuesday, according to the Treasury Department’s website, continuing to increase pressure on Tehran in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted 12 Iranian steel manufacturers or holding companies, whose combined annual output capacity reaches millions of metric tons of steel product, the treasury department said in a statement.
The U.S. treasury department said the Iranian metals sector “is an important revenue source for the Iranian regime, generating wealth for its corrupt leaders and financing a range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for foreign terrorist groups, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad.”
“The Trump Administration remains committed to denying revenue flowing to the Iranian regime as it continues to sponsor terrorist groups, support oppressive regimes, and seek weapons of mass destruction,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
In November, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams said the Trump administration would continue to tighten sanctions on Iran during its final months in office, with sanctions related to arms, weapons of mass destruction and human rights.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen since Trump abandoned Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and restored harsh economic sanctions to pressure Tehran to negotiate deeper curbs on its nuclear program, ballistic missile development and support for regional proxy forces.
President-elect Joe Biden, set to take office on Jan. 20, has said he will return the United States to the Obama-era deal if Iran resumes compliance.
