The US on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iran over its reprisal drone and missile attack on Israel.
The State Department said the sanctions target Iran’s drone program and its steel and automobile industry over allegations that the companies are tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The measures are largely symbolic since Iran is already under heavy US sanctions that essentially amount to an economic blockade. Tehran has found relief by selling more oil to Asia, and recent US sanctions have tried to target those sales.
State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the latest sanctions are actions against “several actors involved in Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program, suppliers and customers of one of Iran’s largest steel producers, and Iranian automobile companies with connections to US-designated entities Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).”
The UK also announced new sanctions on Iran that target the Iranian military. “The UK has sanctioned a further 7 individuals and 6 entities who have enabled Iran to conduct destabilising regional activity, including its direct attack on Israel,” the British government said in a press release.
Both the US and the UK strongly condemned Iran’s attack on Israel in their statements, but neither mentioned the Israeli bombing of an Iranian consulate in Damascus, which provoked the Iranian attack. Israel has been targeting Iranians in Syria for years, but the bombing of a diplomatic facility marked a huge escalation and killed seven members of the IRGC, including a senior Quds Force commander.
The US and the UK defended Israel during the Iranian attack and are now urging the Israeli government not to escalate the situation further. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will make its own decisions, and some sort of response is expected. The US has vowed to continue defending Israel, meaning it will intervene again if there is another escalation.
