US imposes new sanctions on Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury on Wednesday announced new steps to increase financial pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program, including the blacklisting of another state-controlled bank, front companies for its state shipping line and the air force and missile commands of Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps. The actions are the first set of US measures to implement the latest round of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran approved last week. The actions prohibit US transactions with the blacklisted entities and seek to freeze any assets that they may have under US jurisdiction. The Treasury said it added Post Bank of Iran to its list of specially designated proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, marking the 16th bank in Iran that it has sought to cut off from the international financial system. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a news briefing that more actions to increase financial pressure on Iran would be taken in coming weeks. We will continue to target Irans support for terrorist organizations. We will continue to focus on Irans Revolutionary Guard, he said. And we will continue to expose Irans efforts to evade international sanctions.

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