The American sanctions target Iran's oil and petrochemicals industries and Iranian companies involved in nuclear procurement or enrichment activity. The U.S. also declared Iran's banking system a center for money laundering, designed as a stern warning to financial institutions around the world to think twice before doing business with Tehran.
Canada team up on new Iran sanctions
President Barack Obama said Iran had a choice: come clean on its nuclear program and reap the benefits of closer economic cooperation with the world, or face even more pressure.
"Iran has chosen the path of international isolation," Obama said in a statement. "As long as Iran continues down this dangerous path, the United States will continue to find ways, both in concert with our partners and through our own actions to isolate and increase the pressure upon the Iranian regime."
The new restrictions essentially amount to a piecemeal addition to dozens of American measures already in place to isolate Iran's economy, partly reflecting the need for a quick response to a U.N. nuclear agency report suggesting Iranian work toward the development of atomic weapons. Release of the report two weeks ago sparked frenzied international diplomacy over how to halt the Iranian threat, including speculation in the U.S., Europe and Israel on the merits of military intervention.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thwarted internationally, the Obama administration cobbled together a new set of best-available sanctions against Iran on Monday that underlined its limited capacity to force Tehran to halt its suspected nuclear weapons program.
The U.S. action was coordinated with Britain and Canada, but not with countries such as Russia and China that have far greater economic investments in the Islamic republic.
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