Iran targeted with sanctions, export controls after attack on Israel
Summary
The U.S. has rolled out a new package of economic measures aimed at impeding the country’s drone program.
The U.S. has hit Iran with a new wave of sanctions and export controls in response to the country’s recent air attack on Israel, a move aimed at grounding Iran’s drone program and pinching its national revenue.
The U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments on Thursday announced a package of financial sanctions that targets a number of companies and individuals, both inside and outside Iran, alongside controls on low-level technology that could be employed in drone manufacture.
The move comes five days after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel. The swarm, though large, was mostly repelled by a joint effort from Israel, the U.S. and a half dozen other countries. Following the attack, President Biden has urged Israel to use caution and has pushed to de-escalate tensions.
Thursday’s measures, which were joined by sanctions from the U.K., are intended to disrupt the network behind the manufacture of the drones in Iran. In addition to directly targeting companies involved in drone production, the sanctions take aim at businesses involved in Iran’s manufacture of steel, a key revenue source for the country.
Among those sanctioned are several that supply one of Iran’s largest steel producers, Khouzestan Steel, or buy its finished products, including companies based in Turkey, Germany, Hong Kong and Dubai. Khouzestan Steel didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“We are taking swift and decisive action to respond to Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. The Group of Seven leaders recently discussed the possibility of new sanctions against Iran.
The U.S. has in the last three years targeted more than 600 individuals and entities connected to Iran’s terrorist activity, human-rights abuses and its financing of proxy fighters in the Middle East, Yellen said.
The U.S. said it also wants to disrupt Iran’s provision of drones to Russia, which has deployed the weapons against Ukraine.
The export controls package expands the list of proscribed items to include technologies such as basic microelectronics, said the Commerce Department, which administers the controls. The measures also block Iran from obtaining certain items manufactured outside the U.S. with U.S. technology.
The Biden administration and U.S. allies have deployed an expansive array of sanctions, export controls and other measures—including against Iran—as they have sought to cut off funding to Russia’s economy and disrupt the flow of war-related materiel in response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Iran has also been targeted in its own right for years over behavior that the U.S. sees as destabilizing.
Recent analyses have questioned whether the Russia-related sanctions are having the desired effect. Yellen on Thursday said the U.S. is vigorously enforcing the sanctions and levying historic fines.
A Commerce Department official said recently that the U.S. likely to levy harsher penalties for export control violations. The controls are seen as a way to stop U.S. adversaries from gaining technology that could be used in military applications.
Write to Richard Vanderford at Richard.Vanderford@wsj.com
