The Trump administration announced today new sanctions on Iran, with specific sanctions against the country’s largest iron and steel manufacturers.
“The President is issuing an executive order authorizing the imposition of additional sanctions against any individual owning, operating, trading with, or assisting sectors of the Iranian economy including construction, manufacturing, textiles, and mining,” US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters at the White House.
Mnuchin added that the sanction will be in effect “until Iran stops its terrorist activities and commit to never having a nuclear weapon.”
According to news reports, Trump is aiming to force Iran to renegotiate the international nuclear agreement it signed in 2015.
Lawrence Ward, partner at international law firm Dorsey & Whitney, said in a statement to SteelOrbis that the actions “appear to apply the most pressure on foreign financial institutions.”
“The US government’s hope is that foreign financial institutions will voluntarily cut-off access to all individuals and entities in various sectors of the Iranian economy including construction, mining, manufacturing, or textiles,” Ward said. “Foreign financial institutions risk having their own US correspondent accounts shut off if they facilitate any transaction with targeted individuals and entities in these sectors.”
As for the immediate impact of the sanctions, Ward said it will depend on the US government “strategically using them to target certain individuals and entities,” along with compliance from foreign financial institutions. In the past, Ward noted, some financial institutions in Asia and Europe “either have not had—or not been concerned with losing—access to a US correspondent account.”