The US imposed a raft of sanctions targeting Iran’s ballistic-missile and drone programs as well as its ability to wage cyber warfare against the US.
The Treasury Department sanctioned four Iran and Hong Kong-based entities that are part of what it called a covert procurement network for Iran’s missile and drone programs. In a separate action, it targeted six officials with the cyber command of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Treasury linked the drone and missile sanctions to recent attacks by Iran-backed groups on US forces in the Middle East. Those strikes included an attack last weekend that killed three Army reservists and wounded more than 30 other people at a US outpost in Jordan.
Iranian proliferation “remains a critical threat to the stability of the region,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement Friday. The cyber-related sanctions were meant to punish Iran for the “deliberate targeting of critical infrastructure,” he said in a separate statement.
US officials had warned that they would step up sanctions against Iran in the wake of the Jordan attacks and stepped-up strikes by Iran backed groups in the region. The sharp uptick in attacks on US forces came after the attack on Israel by Hamas militants in October triggered a punishing Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
