US Officially Announces Major Sanctions on Iran... Cutting Off Financial Resources by Blocking Steel and Metal Exports

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[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Kim Bong-su] On the 10th (local time), the Donald Trump administration in the United States imposed additional sanctions on Iran to tighten the financial lifelines of Iran’s steel and metal industries as retaliation for Iran’s attack on two U.S. military bases in Iraq.

Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, held a joint press conference at the White House on the same day and announced the sanctions plan, including blacklisting Iranian officials and companies.

According to the announcement, President Trump issued an executive order directing each department to implement the new sanctions policy. In the case of the Treasury Department, companies and individuals operating in Iran’s construction, manufacturing, textile, and mining sectors, as well as anyone supporting them, can be blacklisted and completely banned from transactions with U.S. companies, financial institutions, and government agencies.

President Trump said, "This sanction measure will deal a significant blow to the Iranian economy. It includes strong secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions," and warned, "Economic sanctions will remain in place until the Iranian regime changes their behavior."

The U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would blacklist 13 major Iranian steel manufacturers, copper and aluminum producers, and that eight Iranian officials, including Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, were also included in the sanctions targets.

Secretary Mnuchin said, "Senior officials from the Iranian Prime Minister’s Office and the Revolutionary Guard have been added to the list," adding, "They were particularly involved in the attack on two U.S. military bases in Iraq. We are striking at the heart of Iran’s security apparatus."

The U.S. Treasury Department also included 17 Iranian metal and steel manufacturers and three companies based in China (Seychelles) that purchased metal and steel products produced in Iran on the sanctions list.

Brian Hook, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, told reporters, "This could deal a major blow to the financial lifelines of the Iranian regime’s foreign policy as well as the export sector that has played a key role in sustaining the Iranian economy."

Earlier, after the U.S. eliminated Qassem Soleimani, a key figure in the Iranian military, on the 3rd, Iran retaliated by attacking two U.S. military bases in Iraq with missiles on the 7th. President Trump announced on the 8th that he would respond with economic sanctions such as "lethal sanctions" instead of military operations.

At the time, concerns about armed conflict between the two countries circulated, but analyses suggested that Iran moderated the intensity of the attack to avoid increasing American casualties, and the fact that no American casualties actually occurred influenced the U.S. decision to respond non-militarily.

The U.S. and Iran have maintained tense relations since May 2018, when President Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement (JCPOA - Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) signed during President Barack Obama’s administration in 2015 and reinstated sanctions on Iran.

Meanwhile, the U.S. announced that it would exclude investigation activities related to the crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran from the sanctions targets.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.