Treasury Department plans to sanction companies, individuals for role in Iran's ballistic missile program

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published 31 December 2015

The Treasury Department is planning to impose financial sanctions on Iran for the first time since the U.S. reached a nuclear agreement with Iran and other global powers in July. Despite Iranian officials' warnings that any such sanctions would be seen as a violation of the agreement, the Obama administration plans to sanction what Market Watch reports is "nearly a dozen companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates for their alleged role in...Iran's ballistic-missile program."

The sanctions would ban U.S. or foreign nationals from doing business with the blacklisted companies and freeze sanctioned individuals' assets within the American financial system. The U.S. contends that, even with the agreement in place, it maintains the right to sanction those involved in missile development and those who support terrorism and human-rights abuses. The Obama administrations underscores that these sanctions are separate from the nuclear agreement.