United States will impose first financial sanctions on Iran for the firing of two ballistic missiles after the July agreement.
Washington preparing new sanctions against companies and individuals in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong that are linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program, reported Wednesday the Wall Street Journal. For Tehran, these ballistic missiles are purely defensive, not a threat.
This would be the first sanctions imposed by the United since the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program concluded in Vienna on July 14 between the major powers and Tehran. This agreement led to the lifting of other sanctions. The US Treasury Department is preparing sanctions against two networks linked to Iran that help to develop the ballistic missile program. These sanctions prohibit doing business with companies and individuals of these networks, whose assets in the United States would be frozen by US banks.
In mid-December, the UN experts had concluded that a ballistic missile test launch by Iran in October violated Resolution 1929 of the Security Council. The 2010 Act prohibits Tehran to conduct activities related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Tehran, however, says instead that its ballistic missiles are purely defensive, are not designed to carry nuclear weapons, and are therefore covered by any UN resolution. The Iranian defense minister, Hossein Dehghan, said that Iran would accept “no limitations” in its missile program.
Two Shootings in July
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, may consider such sanctions as a violation of the agreement on the nuclear program, according to Iranian officials. US officials, in the other hand, say US have the right to sanction Iranian entities regarding the missiles or the support of human rights violations or terrorism. The Treasury also prepares sanctions against five Iranian officials. They have worked on this program. Iran conducted two ballistic missile launches from the July agreement, said the officials at WSJ.
