MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US imposes more sanctions on Iran in retaliation for missile attack on its bases

The measures target eight senior Iranian officials who Mike Pompeo said are responsible for government's violence abroad and crackdown on protesters at home

The United States imposed more sanctions on Iran on Friday in retaliation for its missile attack on US forces in Iraq this week and vowed to tighten the economic screws if Tehran continued “terrorist” acts or pursued a nuclear bomb.

The targets of the sanctions included Iran's manufacturing, mining and textile sectors as well as senior Iranian officials who Washington said were involved in the Jan 8 attack on military bases housing US troops.

Fears that the United States and Iran were heading for war flared over the past week after a US drone strike killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, spurring Iran's retaliatory strike on facilities in Iraq hosting US forces.

No one was harmed in the Iranian ballistic missile attacks and the two sides seem to have stepped back from the brink of all-out conflict. President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to impose the additional sanctions, the most concrete US response yet to the attacks.

The measures target eight senior Iranian officials who US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said are responsible for both the government's violence abroad and crackdown on protesters at home.

“We're striking at the heart of the Islamic Republic's inner security apparatus. These sanctions targets include the secretary of the Supreme National Council and the commander of the Basij forces,” Pompeo said.

A commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards who was one of those sanctioned on Friday brushed of the new US move as “symbolic.”

”Imposing sanctions is symbolic for America and for me because this measure will have no economic impact and will not compensate for (Iran's) missile barrage and will not bring respect for Washington,“ tweeted Mohsen Rezaie.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have spiked since Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama and began re-imposing sanctions that had been eased under the accord.

Those US sanctions have driven down Iranian crude sales, the Islamic Republic's main source of revenues, but so far have not brought Iran back to the negotiating table to discuss a new nuclear pact as sought by Trump.

The United States has also sanctioned Iran's purchase of US dollars, its trade in gold and precious metals and its dealings with metals, coal and industrial-related software.

Friday's sanctions freeze all properties or interests in properties that those targeted by the measures have under US jurisdiction. People or foreign financial institutions engaging in certain transactions with those designated could also be exposed to sanctions themselves.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaking alongside Pompeo at a White House news conference, said Washington would impose further sanctions if needed.

”We will continue to apply economic sanctions until Iran stops its terrorist activities and commits that it will never have nuclear weapons,” he said.