US slaps new sanctions on Iran after missile test

"Days of turning a blind eye to Iran's hostile and belligerent actions are over", says Trump security adviser.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer holds a press briefing on February 3, 2017 after the United States announced new sanctions on Iran. Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

WASHINGTON // The United States imposed fresh sanctions on Iran on Friday as president Donald Trump seeks to punish Tehran for its ballistic missile programme after warning the Islamic republic that it was “playing with fire.”

The US treasury department published a list of 13 individuals and 12 entities facing new restrictions for supporting the missile programme, having links to terrorism or providing support for Iran’s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The entities include companies based in Tehran, the UAE, Lebanon and China.

“The days of turning a blind eye to Iran’s hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over,” said Michael Flynn, president Trump’s national security adviser.

Although White House spokesman Sean Spicer acknowledged that much of the legwork had been done under former president Barack Obama, he said the Trump administration “acted swiftly and decisively” after Iran’s recent missile test and Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen firing on a Saudi naval vessel.

The Trump administration has sought to take a harder line on Iran, banning its citizens from entering the US and accusing the nation of interfering in the affairs of US allies in the Middle East. But the sanctions announced on Friday were limited in scope, serving mostly as a warning signal.

“These are not major players,” said Sam Cutler, a sanctions lawyer at Horizon Client Access in Washington. “It seems to be a follow-up on a previous action that the Obama administration took in terms of identifying people in existing networks that had been previously sanctioned. I see this as consistent with prior policy rather than anything new, the rhetoric notwithstanding.”

The sanctions would not affect a deal signed between Boeing and Iran’s national carrier in December, according to a Trump administration official who briefed reporters. The agreement to sell 80 planes is valued at US$16.6 billion (Dh61bn) and is the first of its kind since 1979.

“This action reflects the United States’ commitment to enforcing sanctions on Iran with respect to its ballistic missile programme and destabilising activities in the region,” the treasury department said. It called the actions “fully consistent” with a nuclear accord Iran reached with the US and five other world powers.

While Mr Trump’s decision to take action against Iran early in his administration pleased US legislators in both parties who were never comfortable with Mr Obama’s tentative rapprochement with Iran, it could unsettle domestic Iranian politics as president Hassan Rouhani seeks re-election in May.

“With the increase in sanctions, the perception that the US might be rolling back on the Iran deal – and the anti-Iran mood that is emerging in Washington – will further empower hardliners in Iran, where the rhetoric will be, ‘we told you so – these people cannot be trusted’,” said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre.

A second administration official said the sanctions were pulled together after extensive consultation between various government agencies and the national security council. The official said the US wants to work with Iran when it abides by its international commitments, but would continue to pressure Iran to change its behaviour.

“Iran is playing with fire – they don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!” Trump tweeted early Friday.

The added sanctions were praised by Republican senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the foreign relations committee, who said it “makes clear that it is a new day in US-Iran relations and that we will no longer tolerate Iran’s destabilising behaviour”.

Ahead of the announcement, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “Iran unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people.” He added later: “We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defence.”

Tensions between the two sides were already escalating before the most recent missile test last Sunday. While the tests do not contravene the nuclear accord signed in 2015, they are seen by some nations as going against a UN Security Council resolution that enshrines the agreement.

A third administration official said the most recent test defied the resolution because the missile met payload and range parameters that make it capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The official called Iran’s missile launches extremely provocative and destabilising.

Still, the new sanctions are not directed at Iran’s nuclear programme and will not directly affect the agreement forged under Mr Obama’s administration that eased restrictions in exchange for Iran’s promise not to develop nuclear weapons.

* Bloomberg with additional reporting from Associated Press