The US Treasury on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on individuals and firms in Iran and Venezuela, accusing them of facilitating weapons transfers, including Iranian-made combat drones for Venezuela and procurement networks tied to Iran’s missile program.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said it was targeting ten individuals and entities linked to Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle trade with Venezuela, as well as separate actors involved in sourcing missile-related chemicals for Iran’s defense industry.
Treasury said the measures build on earlier nonproliferation designations made in October and November, following the September 27 reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran.
Officials said Iran’s UAV and missile programs threaten US and allied personnel in the Middle East, destabilize commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and undermine US interests in the Western Hemisphere through arms transfers to Caracas.
“Treasury is holding Iran and Venezuela accountable for their aggressive and reckless proliferation of deadly weapons around the world,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley.
An Iranian vice president on Tuesday defended Tehran’s ballistic missile capabilities as essential for deterrence, after the US president warned of further attacks if Iran moves to develop its missile program which was severely damaged in a June war.
"Iran must have missiles; without them, we would be defenseless. We must stand for Iran’s dignity," Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad-Jafar Ghaempanah said.
State Department warning
US State Department on Tuesday warned Tehran against what it called the expansion of its combat drone fleet and the continuation of procuring missile-related items in violation of UN restrictions.
“As President Trump has made clear in a National Security Presidential Memorandum, the United States will take action to curtail Iran’s ballistic missile program, counter Iran’s development of other asymmetric and conventional weapons capabilities, deny Iran a nuclear weapon, and deny the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) access to assets and resources that sustain their destabilizing activities,” the statement said. “We will not hesitate to hold accountable anyone who supports Tehran’s proliferation activities.”
Non-proliferation concerns
According to Treasury, the action was taken under Executive Orders 13382 and 13949, which target weapons of mass destruction proliferators and Iran’s conventional arms activities.
The designations were also linked to National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, which directs US agencies to curb Iran’s missile program and deny the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps access to financial resources.
OFAC designated three Iran-based individuals for efforts to procure chemicals used in ballistic missiles for Parchin Chemical Industries, an element of Iran’s Defense Industries Organization responsible for chemical imports and exports. Treasury said the materials sought included sodium perchlorate, sebacic acid and nitrocellulose, all used in solid-propellant rocket motors.
Treasury identified Mostafa Rostami Sani as a key figure in the procurement network, accusing him of sourcing large quantities of sodium perchlorate and acting as a liaison between foreign suppliers and Parchin Chemical Industries. Rostami Sani is the chairman of Pardisan Rezvan Shargh International Private Joint Stock Company, which was also designated. The company’s managing director, Reza Zarepour Taraghi, was sanctioned as well.
OFAC also expanded sanctions on Iran’s defense-linked technology sector, designating entities and individuals connected to Rayan Fan Kav Andish Co, a holding company tied to firms producing components and software for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ UAV and aerospace programs. Newly designated entities include Fanavari Electro Moj Mobin Company and Kavoshgaran Asman Moj Ghadir Company, along with executives Bahram Rezaei, Erfan Qaysari and Mehdi Ghaffari.
Speaking to reporters alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida, Trump said the United States will deal a heavy blow on Iran if it tries to recover from the US and Israeli strikes in June.
"I'm hearing that Iran is trying to recover—if that happens, we'll have to hit them hard," Trump added.
"If they will continue with the missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast. Okay? One will be yes, absolutely. The other was, we'll do it immediately," Trump said when asked if he would support Israel's strikes on Iran in case it further develops its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
In a joint press conference with Netanyahu later in the day, Trump said he hopes Iran is "not trying to build up again, because if they are, we're going to have no choice, but very quickly to eradicate that buildup."
"I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I've been reading, that they're building up weapons and other things. And if they are, they're not using the sites that we obliterated, but they're using possibly different sites. We know exactly where they're going, what they're doing, and I hope they're not doing it, because we don't want to waste the fuel on B-2, it's a 37-hour trip both ways. I don't want to waste a lot of fuel," he said.
The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program earlier this year, for which Trump set a 60-day deadline.
When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
The attacks killed nuclear scientists along with hundreds of military personnel and civilians. Iranian counterattacks killed 32 Israeli civilians and an off-duty soldier.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said dealing with Trump is beneath the dignity of the Islamic Republic, while Iranian officials have rejected US demands to end uranium enrichment and curb missile capabilities.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with Oman’s Foreign Minister on Monday over the phone. Oman has previously mediated negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Trump blames Obama for nuclear Iran
Ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump shared a post on his Truth Social account of an old share on X that the Obama and Biden administrations gave money to Iran to fund its nuclear program.
The message originated on X from an account using the pen name Chris Bjornberg and was part of a promotion for his 2023 book “The Night Rider and the Warrior Queen.”
“One of Obama’s most treasonous policies was to fund Iran’s nuclear program,” the post shared by Trump said, alongside an image of a nuclear explosion over New York City and further criticism of Democratic administrations’ Iran policy.
“Biden and Obama gave Iran over $220 billion to research and build nukes. Iran nearly had 6 nuclear bombs and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM’s) that would have destroyed Israel and 5 cities in the US," the post said.
The Obama administration negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which restricted Tehran’s nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, before Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018.
Iran has since expanded its nuclear program beyond JCPOA limits, and the deal has effectively stalled.
The problem between the Islamic Republic and Western powers “is not the nuclear issue,” but opposition to Iran’s plan “to establish a national and international Islamic order,” Ali Khamenei said in a message issued Saturday to the annual meeting of Islamic student associations in Europe.
He framed the confrontation as resistance to an “unjust global order and the system of domination.”
“The heavy assault of the US army and its disgraceful appendage in the region was defeated by the initiative, courage and sacrifice of Iran’s young people,” Khamenei said in a reference to recent regional conflicts.
Costs of confrontation
The remarks came after a 12-day war that left Iran with significant losses among senior military commanders and caused damage to nuclear, military and security infrastructure. Critics say the confrontation with the West, shaped by Khamenei’s policies over more than three decades, has imposed heavy costs on the population, with sanctions crippling large parts of the economy, weakening the currency and driving up the cost of living.
Despite this, senior officials have continued to defend the strategy. On Friday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged that sanctions have contributed to economic disorder but portrayed them as a factor behind Iran’s industrial “independence” and the development of its defence and missile sectors.
Speaking earlier in Isfahan, Araghchi said Iranians must accept the reality of sanctions and “accept that it is possible to live with sanctions.” He added that while sanctions have costs, he also knew their “blessings,” comments that triggered a wave of public criticism from citizens who said officials were disconnected from daily economic hardship.
Nuclear dispute still central
Khamenei’s insistence that the nuclear issue is secondary contrasts with Tehran’s recent remarks that reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency helped pave the way for Israeli and US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
On June 12, the IAEA’s board of governors adopted a resolution accusing Iran of breaching safeguards by accumulating highly enriched uranium and restricting inspectors’ access, and called on Tehran to resume full cooperation.
The supreme leader’s comments also come as Iran-backed groups across the region are widely viewed as major sources of instability in the Middle East, complicating Tehran’s efforts to cast its confrontation with the West as purely ideological.
