Govts in tit-for-tat sanctions over missiles

WASHINGTON: The US and Iran traded sanctions on Tuesday over the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile programme, just hours after Washington admitted Tehran was complying with a landmark nuclear deal signed two years ago.

After the US announced its new sanctions, Iran hit back, calling them “worthless” and “illegal” and announcing its own sanctions “against American people and entities that have acted against the Iranian people”.

“The Americans ... want to weaken the capabilities and strength of the Islamic regime,” said General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ aerospace wing and missile programme. “We propose reciprocal actions with a high cost.”

Iran’s parliament also voted to authorise extra funding for the missile program and the Revolutionary Guard’s foreign operations wing, the Quds Force, which Washington accuses of fomenting unrest across the region.

The heightened tensions came after US President Donald Trump was forced to back off from a key campaign promise to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran, which eased sanctions in return for limiting its ability to produce material for atomic weapons.

Mr Trump had described it as “the worst deal ever” and accused Iran of continuing to back terrorism in the Middle East. But on Monday, the White House admitted that the Islamic Republic was sticking to the nukes agreement.

It noted, however, that while Iran might be meeting its requirements on paper, it was “unquestionably in default of the spirit” of the accord.

In announcing the new sanctions against 18 individuals and entities in Iran, the State Department said it “remains deeply concerned about Iran’s malign activities across the Middle East which undermine regional stability, security, and prosperity”.

It cited Iran’s support for Lebanonbased Hezbollah, the Islamic movement Hamas, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Houthi rebels in Yemen fighting a US-backed coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

The Pentagon has also repeatedly voiced concern over a string of high-profile incidents in waters off Iran involving Iranian vessels. It has accused the Revolutionary Guard of conducting risky manoeuvres around US warships in the Gulf, some of which resulted in the Americans firing warning shots.

“These sanctions target procurement of advanced military hardware, such as fast attack boats and unmanned aerial vehicles, and send a strong signal that the United States cannot and will not tolerate Iran’s provocative and destabilising behaviour,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.