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IRAN-NUCLEAR-US-POLITICS
US targets Iran construction sector with new sanctions
WASHINGTON, Nov 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States on Thursday extended
its sanctions on Iran by taking aim at its construction sector, which
Washington linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guards.
The sanctions, it said, would also target “four strategic materials as
being used in connection with Iran’s nuclear, military, or ballistic missile
programs.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed the sanctions after the
construction sector was identified as “being controlled directly or
indirectly by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” spokeswoman
Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
Iranian tensions with the United States have escalated sharply since US
President Donald Trump last year withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and
began reimposing crippling unilateral sanctions.
Tehran has hit back by suspending its compliance with parts of the nuclear
deal until sanctions relief is restored.
The latest sanctions “will help preserve oversight of Iran’s civil nuclear
program, reduce proliferation risks, constrain Iran’s ability to shorten its
‘breakout time’ to a nuclear weapon, and prevent the regime from
reconstituting sites for proliferation-sensitive purposes,” Ortagus said.
Just Tuesday, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), elected Argentina’s Rafael Grossi as its new head.
The IAEA is tasked with monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities to ensure
they abide by the terms of the 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The deal has become more shaky since the US pullout. However its European
parties have repeatedly said they are committed to saving the accord, but
their efforts have so far borne little fruit.
The decision to continue with restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program gives
the United States additional authority “to prevent Iran from acquiring
strategic materials for the IRGC, its construction sector, and its
proliferation programs,” Ortagus said.
Tehran has hit back three times with countermeasures in response to the US
withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
On July 1, Iran said it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to
beyond a 300-kilogramme maximum set by the deal, and a week later it
announced it had exceeded a 3.67-percent cap on the purity of its uranium
stocks.
In its latest move it fired up advanced centrifuges to boost its enriched
uranium stockpiles on September 7.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0800 hrs