WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States expanded sanctions against Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors on Friday in response to an Iranian missile attack on Israel, the Treasury Department said.
“This action intensifies financial pressure on Iran, limiting the regime’s ability to earn critical energy revenues to undermine stability in the region and attack U.S. partners and allies,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Israel is vowing to respond to Iran’s missile attack on Oct. 1, launched in retaliation for Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Gaza and the killing of a Hamas leader in Iran.
The new U.S. move adds the petroleum and petrochemical sector to an executive order that targets key sectors of Iran’s economy with the aim of denying the government financial resources to support its nuclear and missile program.
That allows the Treasury to “impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in the petroleum and petrochemical sectors of the Iranian economy,” the statement said.
President Joe Biden has said Israel should seek alternatives to attacking Iran’s oil fields. Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking oil sites because they are concerned their own facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.
The Treasury Department also said it was designating 16 entities and identifying 17 vessels as blocked property, citing their involvement in shipments of petroleum and petrochemical products in support of the National Iranian Oil Company.
Concurrently, the State Department took steps to disrupt the money flow into Iran’s weapons programs and support for “terrorist proxies and partners”
It imposed sanctions on six entities involved in Tehran’s petroleum trade and identified six ships as blocked property.
