The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against Iranian defense companies after a spate of ballistic missile attacks on targets in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
The US and Iran’s neighbors blame Tehran for a March 13 strike on Erbil, Iraq, and for repeated missile strikes into Saudi Arabia and the UAE by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
On Friday, a Houthi missile strike set ablaze a Saudi Aramco oil storage site, prompting warnings from angry Saudi leaders that the attacks threatened the stability of the world oil market.
Even as the US carries out indirect negotiations with Iran to revive limits on Iran’s nuclear program, it will keep up penalties against those involved in Iran’s ballistic missile production, Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in announcing the sanctions.
“We will also work with other partners in the region to hold Iran accountable for its actions, including gross violations of the sovereignty of its neighbors,” Nelson said in a statement.
The move “reinforces” Washington’s commitment to prevent Iran from developing ballistic missiles, he added.
The US Treasury Department said the sanctions target an Iran-based procurement agent — Mohammad Ali Hosseini — and his companies, which helped acquire propellant-related materials for the missile research program of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); an Iranian defense company; and an Iranian intermediary who also helped in the development of missile propellant.
The sanctions were authorized under an existing executive order targeting producers and supporters of weapons of mass destruction. The penalties allow the US to block the assets of the sanctioned people and entities, and to prosecute others who do business with them.
The announcement came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in Rabat and two days after the top US diplomat spoke on the phone with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan — both part of US efforts to calm Emirati and Saudi frustration over what they feel has been a lack of support from the Biden administration amid the Houthi attacks.
Both Gulf states have pressed the US to put the Houthis back on the State Department’s list of Foreign Terror Organizations, which Biden has said he’s weighing against concerns of the impact such a move would have on the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
