The US Treasury Department announced sanctions on a host of Iranian companies and individuals on Friday. It sends a signal to Tehran to rein in its ballistic missile testing.
The people and entities involved in procuring technology and/or materials to support Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well as acting for, or on behalf of, or providing support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-Quds Force are the targets of the sanctions.
Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran are World news. On Friday, The Treasury Department placed additional sanctions on Iran for testing ballistic missiles in defiance of a United Nations resolution. On Saturday, Iran reacted by launching additional long-range missiles.
While US President Trump placed Iran “on notice”, Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, stated that Iran “will never use our weapons … except in self-defense.”
The port city of al-Mokha on the Red Sea coast of Yemen has been secured by Yemeni government forces backed by Gulf Arab troops. This was part of an effort to push for an advance on the city of Hodeidah – the country’s main port city.
For the past few weeks, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s supporters have been fighting in order to capture al-Mokha that has been held by Iran-backed Houthis since 2015.
Last week, President Trump’s National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, announced that there would be new financial sanctions imposed on individuals and entities following Iran’s test-firing of a ballistic missile. Flynn mentioned that the test-firing was a violation of UN resolutions and added that Iran has transgressed in many other ways – attacking vessels in international waters, funding terrorism around the Middle East and further, and so on.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has publicly spoken for the first time since the inauguration of US President Trump. He dismissed the “on notice” decision by the US following the test-firing of a ballistic missile.
On 3rd February, Trump posted a message to Iran on Twitter: “Iran is playing with fire – they don’t appreciate how “kind” President Obama was to them. Not me!”
A proposal to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation is currently being reviewed by the US President Donald Trump and his administration.
According to officials in the know, several government agencies have been approached regarding the proposal.
Trump’s decisions, operation Decisive Storm to end mullahs’ dream
Those who fiercely oppose US President Donald Trump’s statements these days are the Iranian lobby, which had influenced the former Obama administration, and its allies affiliated to the lobby and terrorist projects across the world. Jerry Maher wrote in Al Arabiya, on Tuesday, February 7, 2017, the following are parts of this article.
Just days after being put “on notice” by the White House for conducting a ballistic missile test, Iran has fired off five advanced surface-to-air missiles in a military exercise.
The Hunter missiles were successfully launched from Dasht-e Kavir, a remote desert area in the middle of Iran, on Sunday. That type of missile in used to down aircraft and incoming missiles.
Walking away from appeasing Tehran
Newswires on Monday (6 Feb) reported on the Kremlin’s disagreement with US President Trump’s hardball stance labeling the illegitimate Iranian government as ‘the number one terrorist state’. And which the US administration has the support of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
Vice President Mike Pence has warned the Iranian Regime to think twice about testing Donald Trump’s patience in an interview on ABC with George Stephanopoulos.
His warning came just days after the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Iran.
Pence said: “Iran would do well not to test the resolve of this new president. [They should] think twice about their continued hostile and belligerent actions.”
