US expands sanctions on Iran by increasing list of banned materials

Washington – The United States extended sanctions on Iran on Friday by including 15 new materials in a list of components vetoed for the Persian country’s missile program.
Five days before the end of the administration of US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that his office “is identifying 15 specific materials used in connection with the nuclear, military or ballistic missile programs of the United States. Iran “.
“Those who knowingly transfer such materials to Iran are now punishable,” the note detailed, which included a list in which different types of aluminum are related and mention, among others, zirconium carbide and zircon sand (zirconium silicate ) among the prohibited products.
Pompeo also insisted that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) “controls the construction sector in Iran.”
“It is important for the international community to remember that the construction company IRGC and many of its subsidiaries continue to be sanctioned by the United Nations, because they were directly involved in the clandestine construction of the uranium enrichment site in Fordo,” he argued.
In this context, the head of US diplomacy noted that “any conscious transfer of certain materials, including graphite or raw or semi-finished metals to or from Iran to be used by the Iranian construction sector remains punishable.”
“As long as the threats persist, the sanctions should also do so,” Pompeo later said in a message on his Twitter account.
Tehran and Washington, which have not had diplomatic relations since 1979, have experienced numerous crises since Trump in 2018 ordered the United States to withdraw from the nuclear agreement signed with world powers in 2015.
Since then, Washington has reimposed tough sanctions on the Persian economy.

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