Iran Press/ America: The decisions announced by the US State Department reflect an effort to increase pressure on Iran by putting wider swaths of its economy under sanctions while leaving a door open to diplomacy by allowing work to proceed at Iranian nuclear facilities that makes it harder for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb.
President Donald Trump’s administration last year pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions, Reuters reported.
The administration has since restored and tightened US sanctions to try to force Iran to negotiate a broader deal.
As a result, the sale of raw and semi-finished metals, graphite, coal, and software for integrating industrial purposes will be sanctionable if the materials are to be used in Iran’s construction sector, the department said in a fact sheet.
In a second determination, Pompeo identified four “strategic materials” as being used in connection with nuclear, military, or ballistic missile programs, making the trade in them subject to sanctions.
The fact sheet identified the materials as: “stainless steel 304L tubes; MN40 manganese brazing foil; MN70 manganese brazing foil; and stainless steel CrNi60WTi ESR + VAR (chromium, nickel, 60 percent tungsten, titanium, electro-slag remelting, vacuum arc remelting).”
In a separate statement, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the determinations gave Washington the ability “to prevent Iran from acquiring strategic materials for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), its construction sector, and its proliferation programs.”
Washington withdrew unilaterally from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on May 8, 2018, and reimposed the toughest-ever sanctions against the country and started a plan to cut-off altogether Tehran's oil sales. The US also imposed sanctions on certain Chinese entities for knowingly transferring oil from Iran.
The US sanctions re-imposed against Iran have resulted in increased tensions in the Persian Gulf region, while also contributing to a severe trust deficit between Washington and Tehran.
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