The United States imposes new sanctions against Iran

The US Treasury Department announced that the United States has included on the sanctions list individuals and entities associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command concerned with electronic operations. Western sanctions continue against Iran following the escalation of mutual missile attacks between Iran and Israel. Two days ago, the US House of Representatives approved new sanctions on the Iranian oil sector, set to become part of the foreign aid package, putting the measure on track to be passed in the Senate within days. The legislation would expand sanctions against Iran to include ports, ships and refineries that knowingly process or ship Iranian crude in violation of existing US sanctions, and it would also expand so-called secondary sanctions to include all transactions between Chinese financial institutions and sanctioned Iranian banks that are used to purchase oil and products of petroleum derivative. The legislation, which is set to be included in a $95 billion package to provide fun ding to aid Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, passed by a vote of 360 to 58 last Saturday, and was previously negotiated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the White House said it supports it. Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers agreed during their meeting in Luxembourg last week to expand sanctions against Tehran in the wake of the attack it launched with ballistic missiles and drones on Israel. Explosions occurred in the city of Isfahan in central Iran last Friday, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, Abdul Rahim Mousavi, said that they were caused by the air defenses confronting a number of 'flying objects,' while the official television published a video clip that it said was of the activation of the air defenses in Isfahan. These latest developments came a few days after Iran launched an attack with hundreds of drones and missiles on Israel, after a senior commander in the Revolutionary Guard was killed in an attack believed to be Israeli that targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus./End Source: National Iraqi News Agency