WASHINGTON: The United States has expanded sanctions against Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical fields in reply to an Iranian missile strike on Israel, Biden’s administration said.
According to Reuters news agency, Washington move adds petroleum and petrochemicals to an executive order that targets key fields of Iran’s economy with the aim of denying the funds of government to support its nuclear as well as missile programs.
In a statement, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser said that the new designations today include steps against the ‘Ghost Fleet’ that carries Iran’s oil to buyers across the world. He said that these steps will help further deny Iran financial resources used to support its missile programs and provide help for groups that threaten the US, its partners and allies.
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Israel said that it would to respond to Iran’s October 1 missile attack, launched in retaliation for Israeli attacks in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran.
The US Treasury can now impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in the petroleum and petrochemical fields of the Iranian economy, it said. Biden has said Israel must seek alternatives to striking Iran’s oil fields.
