US announces fresh sanctions on Iran after Trump vows more strikes

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday announced a new tranche of sanctions it says targets Iran's military and weapons programs, minutes after President Donald Trump said American forces would continue to strike targets in the country.

The Treasury Department said it blacklisted nine entities and individuals accused of helping Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Defense Ministry, and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) to procure weapons.

"Through Economic Fury, the Treasury Department is disrupting the foreign procurement networks that support the Iranian military’s efforts to acquire weapons,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“Treasury has frozen the Iranian regime’s assets, severely disrupted its economy, and dismantled the Iranian war machine. Treasury will not tolerate any support of the Iranian military," he added.

The designated entities include individuals and entities based in China. They include Liu Boyu, whom the Treasury Department said is the sole director of Mustad Limited, which the agency said has facilitated the "IRGC’s procurement of millions of dollars’ worth of weapons."

Two of the company's employees, Wang Hongyi and Xu Lichun, have also been sanctioned.

In addition to Mustad and an affiliate company, the US imposed economic penalties on Domus Trading HK Limited, which it alleged "works within Iran’s clandestine banking network to facilitate payments on behalf of Iranian blocked persons and has attempted to facilitate payments for Iran’s weapons procurement efforts."

Manuchehr Golchin, an Iranian national based in China, was blacklisted for allegedly serving "as a facilitator for MODAFL’s defense acquisitions from China." Chinese national Meng Shaopei is also being sanctioned for aiding Golchin via Hong Kong-based Solos International Limited, it said.

Minutes before the Treasury Department's announcement, Trump said the US would continue to carry out attacks against Iran, following the downing of an American Apache helicopter late Monday.

The US president said American forces "hit them hard yesterday, and we're going to hit them again hard today," signaling indifference to the ramifications of further attacks on negotiations to formally end the US-Israeli war against Iran.

"We're going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard. Yeah, well, we are based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that, you know. They shot down a very, very incredible, actually an incredible machine," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, alluding to the downing of the Apache helicopter.

"We'll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers," he said.