U.S. Treasury Imposes New Sanctions Targeting Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program In Wake Of Attacks

(New York, N.Y.) — Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on five Iranians and entities for their material support in helping the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Research and Self Sufficiency Jihad Organization (IRGC-RSSJO) and Parchin Chemical Industries (PCI). The IRGC is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. PCI is a branch of Iran’s Defense Industries Organization, which produces ammunition, explosives, and solid propellants for rockets and missiles, and is designated for sanctions by the UN.

The sanctions announcement came at the end of a month exemplified by provocative aggression directed by the Iranian regime. On March 8, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 prohibitions, the IRGC announced it had launched a satellite using technologies similar to what is required to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile. On March 13, the IRGC launched dozens of missiles on the Iraqi city of Erbil, targeting Americans in the region. Then, on March 25, the Iran-backed Houthis struck an Aramco oil facility in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

Iran has test-fired more than 30 nuclear-capable ballistic missiles since signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015, under which Tehran agreed to refrain from such activity. Iran, however, has shown no signs of slowing the development of its ballistic missile program, which is inextricably intertwined with its nuclear program. Nevertheless, under the JCPOA, UN sanctions on Iran’s ballistic-missile program expire in October 2023. Long-range ballistic missiles have historically always been developed in unison with a nuclear weapons program. 

To read United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s resource Ballistic Missile Program, please click here. 

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