U.S. sanctions Iran's drone program, steel industry, automaker in response to attack against Israel

WASHINGTON, April 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden announced new sanctions against Iran on Thursday targeting Tehran's drone program, steel industry and an automobile company, a move he said was aimed at "holding Iran responsible" for its recent attack against Israel.

"The sanctions target leaders and entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran's Defense Ministry, and the Iranian government's missile and drone program that enabled this brazen assault," Biden said in a statement, referring to the April 13 attack, which Iran said was in retaliation for Israel's strike on Iran's consulate building in Damascus, Syria on April 1.

According to a statement from the Department of the Treasury, 16 individuals and two entities were targeted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control -- the department's foreign sanctions arm -- for enabling Iran's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production, including engine types that power Iran's Shahed variant UAVs, which were used in the April 13 attack.

The Treasury said it was also designating five companies in multiple jurisdictions providing component materials for steel production to Iran's Khuzestan Steel Company (KSC), one of Iran's largest steel producers, or purchasing KSC's finished steel products.

Also hit by the sanctions were three subsidiaries of Iranian automaker Bahman Group, which the Treasury claimed "have continued to materially support the IRGC and other entities designated pursuant to counterterrorism authorities, including Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics."

The statement said the Department of Commerce was also imposing "new controls to restrict Iran's access to technologies, such as basic commercial grade microelectronics."

Concurrent with the U.S. sanctions, Britain was imposing sanctions "targeting several Iranian military organizations, individuals and entities involved in Iran's UAV and ballistic missile industries," the statement said.