Sanctions in opposition to Iran’s missile and drone programmes come as fears mount over the potential of higher regional escalation.
The administration of United States President Joe Biden has imposed new sanctions on Iran in response to its missile and drone assault on Israel, as tensions mount over the potential of additional escalation within the Center East.
In an announcement on Thursday, Biden mentioned the sanctions focused “leaders and entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s Defense Ministry, and the Iranian government’s missile and drone program that enabled” the April 13 assault on Israel.
“As I discussed with my fellow G7 [Group of Seven] leaders the morning after the attack, we are committed to acting collectively to increase economic pressure on Iran,” the US president mentioned.
“And our allies and partners have or will issue additional sanctions and measures to restrict Iran’s destabilizing military programs.”
Iran launched lots of of missiles and drones at Israel within the early hours on Sunday, in retaliation for the lethal bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria’s capital, Damascus, earlier this month.
The assaults got here amid months of escalating regional tensions linked to Israel’s months-long bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The struggle in Gaza has killed greater than 33,900 Palestinians and plunged the coastal enclave right into a humanitarian disaster.
The Biden administration — which has confronted strain to curb its help for Israel amid the battle in Gaza — is now going through calls to restrain the Israeli authorities’s response to Iran’s assault.
Regardless of a global push for de-escalation, Israeli leaders, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have pledged to reply.
“This is a moment — given the fact we’re looking into the abyss in terms of the region — that Biden has to be much clearer and much stronger in drawing a red line for Israel and Netanyahu not to bring the entire region into a war,” Trita Parsi of the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Accountable Statecraft informed Al Jazeera after the Iranian assault.
Thursday’s sanctions focused 16 folks and two entities linked to the manufacturing of Iranian unmanned aerial autos (UAV), or drones, together with fashions that have been used within the Iranian assault in opposition to Israel, in response to the US Treasury.
Washington additionally sanctioned 5 firms that present supplies for metal manufacturing in Iran, in addition to three subsidiaries of an Iranian automaker accused of providing help to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Treasury added that the UK was additionally imposing sanctions on folks and entities concerned in Iran’s UAV and ballistic missile industries.
In a separate assertion, the British authorities mentioned it sanctioned the Common Employees of Iran’s Armed Forces, the IRGC Navy and people affiliated with Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organisation.
“Today we have sanctioned the ringleaders of the Iranian military and forces responsible for the weekend’s attack,” UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned.
“These sanctions — announced with the US — show we unequivocally condemn this behaviour, and they will further limit Iran’s ability to destabilise the region.”
In the meantime, additionally on Thursday, an IRGC official warned that Iran would assault Israeli nuclear websites and pursue a nuclear weapon ought to Israel’s authorities launch strikes in opposition to the nation’s personal nuclear amenities.
“Our fingers are on the trigger of firing strong missiles to destroy the designated targets in response to a potential attack by them,” IRGC Brigadier Common Ahmad Haghtalab mentioned, as reported by Tasnim, Iran’s semiofficial information web site.