US extends sanctions on Iran by increasing the list of banned materials

The United States on Friday extended sanctions on Iran by including 15 new materials on a list of banned components for the Persian country's missile programme.

Five days before the end of US President Donald Trump's administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that his office "is identifying 15 specific materials used in connection with Iran's nuclear, military or ballistic missile programmes".

"Those who knowingly transfer such materials to Iran are now subject to sanctions," the note details, which includes a list of different types of aluminium and mentions, among others, zirconium carbide and zirconium sand (zirconium silicate) among the banned products.

Pompeo also insisted that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) "controls the construction sector in Iran". "It is important for the international community to remember that the IRGC construction company and many of its subsidiaries continue to be sanctioned by the United Nations, because they were directly involved in the clandestine construction of the uranium enrichment site at Fordo," he argued.

In this context, the head of US diplomacy pointed out that "any conscious transfer of certain materials, including graphite or raw or semi-finished metals to or from Iran for use by Iran's construction sector, remains punishable".

"As long as threats persist, sanctions should do so as well," Pompeo later stated in a message on his Twitter account.

Tehran and Washington, which have had no diplomatic relations since 1979, have experienced numerous crises since Trump ordered the US to withdraw from the nuclear agreement signed with world powers in 2015. Since then Washington has again imposed harsh sanctions on the Persian economy.