00:39 BST 22 April
Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter
Ahead of President Trump’s announcement that he would extend the ceasefire with Iran, the US has sought to maintain its economic pressure campaign on the government in Tehran.
In an announcement sent to reporters this afternoon in Washington, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, said it was sanctioning 14 people, entities and aircraft based in Iran, Turkey and the UAE “for their role procuring of transporting weapons or weapons components” on behalf of Iran’s government.
In practice, this means that all property and interests in property of those designated that are in the US, or in the possession of Americans, are blocked, and must be reported – along with any entities owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by each of the entities.
US citizens, as well as non-citizens in the US or even passing through, are also banned from any transactions with those entities.
According to the US government, these entities have been working to help Iran reconstitute its capacity to build drones and ballistic missiles, which were hard hit by the US and Israeli strikes during Operation Epic Fury.
The announcement forms part of a wider campaign, dubbed Operation Economic Fury, that seeks to cut off Iran’s access to global financial markets and, the administration hopes, help pressure Iran to come to a deal the US sees as workable.