The United States imposed new economic sanctions on Iran in response to a missile attack it carried out on military bases housing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, days earlier.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a joint press conference with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the United States has imposed new sanctions on the "Iranian regime," noting that it includes eight high-ranking Iranian officials "who participated in the destabilization of the region and were involved in the attack. With ballistic missiles on Tuesday."
Mnuchin said U.S. President Donald Trump has issued an order "allowing sanctions against any person with business, ownership, business or other contribution to a number of sectors of the Iranian economy, including construction, industry, textiles and mining."
Mnuchin added that the new measures "include special sanctions targeting iran´s 17 largest iron and steel producers, three companies based in the Sischal Islands and a ship linked to the transport of products," according to Russia Today.
For his part, the Secretary of State said the new U.S. sanctions are aimed at "overthrowing Iran´s security services." Speaking about the U.S.-Iranian escalation in Iraq following the assassination of the Revolutionary Guard Commander of the Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, on January 3, Pompeo said: "We have accurate information about a direct threat, particularly against U.S. embassies. This would have happened. American lives were in real danger."
Commenting on the Iranian missile strikes in response to Soleimani´s death, Pompeo also stressed that Iran was seeking to kill U.S. citizens in the process.
At dawn on Wednesday, Iran launched a ballistic missile strike on two military bases hosting U.S. soldiers in Anbar (west) and Erbil (north), in response to the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Al Quds Force, in a U.S. raid in Baghdad on Friday.
