US slaps sanctions on 16 Iranian entities and persons

The Department of Treasury said in a statement it was targeting 16 entities and individuals for supporting "illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity." They were punished for “backing Iran's military or Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by developing drones and military equipment, producing and maintaining boats, and procuring electronic components.” Others had "orchestrated the theft of US and Western software programs" sold to Iran's government, the Treasury Department said.

The US State Department had also designated two Iranian organizations involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program.

"The United States remains deeply concerned about Iran’s malign activities across the Middle East which undermine regional stability, security, and prosperity," the State Department said in a statement.

It said the activities "undercut whatever 'positive contributions' to regional and international peace and security were intended to emerge" from the nuclear agreement.

The statement listed Iranian support for groups including Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movement as well as the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and Houthi rebels in Yemen.

"The United States remains deeply concerned about Iran’s malign activities across the Middle East, which undermine regional stability, security, and prosperity," the State Department said. Those activities "undercut whatever 'positive contributions' to regional and international peace and security were intended to emerge" from the nuclear agreement.

The statement listed Iranian support for groups including Lebanon's Hizballah and the Palestinian Hamas movement as well as the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and Houthi rebels in Yemen.