US, UK announce new sanctions on Iran after Israel attack

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iran targeting its unmanned aerial vehicle production after its attack on Israel, and US President Joe Biden said G7 leaders were committed to acting together to increase economic pressure on Tehran.

Britain announced that it was also introducing sanctions on Iran in co-ordination with Washington.

Biden said the United States and its allies had helped Israel beat back the April 13 missile and drone strike and were now holding Iran accountable with the new sanctions and export controls.

“The sanctions target leaders and entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s Defence Ministry, and the Iranian government’s missile and drone program that enabled this brazen assault,” Biden said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called Iran’s behaviour “unacceptable.”

“(It) is a message to Israel that we want to play our part in having a coordinated strategy that deals with Iran’s aggression,” Cameron said on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major Western powers in Italy.

The US Treasury Department said the US measures targeted 16 individuals and two entities enabling Iran’s UAV production, including engine types that power Iran’s Shahed variant UAVs, which were used in the April 13 attack.

Tehran says it carried out the attack in retaliation for a presumed Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus which killed two generals and several others on April 1.