The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Thursday new sanctions on Iran, directed against its Revolutionary Guard and the Ministry of Defense, for the attack against Israel. Through a statement signed by the spokesperson for the State Department, Matthew Miller, the US Government has explained that in addition Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle program, steel industry and automobile companies are being targeted.

“In response to Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel, the United States is taking sweeping action against several actors involved in Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle program, suppliers and customers of one of Iran’s largest steel producers, and Iranian auto companies with connections with the United States,” the statement said.

The designated entities are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). In total, the Treasury Department imposes sanctions on sixteen individuals and two entities that enable the production and testing of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles.

Also to people who work on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guardits UAV production division, Kimia Part Sivan Company, and other Iranian manufacturers of UAVs and UAV engines.

Treasury also sanctions five companies that supply component materials for steel production to Iran’s Khuzestan Steel Company (KSC), a US-sanctioned entity, or that purchase finished steel products from KSC. Furthermore, the Treasury sanctions Iranian automaker Bahman Group and three of its subsidiarieswho have continued to materially support the IRGC and other sanctioned entities.

Finally, Commerce Department imposes new controls to restrict Iran’s access to technologies such as basic commercial-grade microelectronics. “We will continue to work with our allies and partners to employ the full range of tools at our disposal to address revenue streams and disrupt networks that support Iran’s reckless proliferation of weapons that destabilize the Middle East and beyond,” Miller said. .

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced last Tuesday that the United States and its partners were coordinating a new round of sanctions against Iran for the attack on Israel, the first launched by Tehran directly against Israeli territory. Several countries had previously designated the Revolutionary Guard, a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as a terrorist group.

In 2019, the United States included the Revolutionary Guard on the blacklist of terrorist groups, while the Government of Canada already said in January of this year that it was studying ways to include the Revolutionary Guard on its list of terrorist organizations.