The United States announced this Thursday (27) new sanctions against Iran due to its uranium enrichment program, which the West denounces as having the objective of developing a nuclear weapon.
In a statement, the US State Department highlighted that in recent weeks Iran has announced measures “to further expand its nuclear program in ways that have no plausible peaceful purpose.”
“Iran’s actions to increase its enrichment capacity [de urânio] are even more concerning in light of the country’s continued failure to cooperate with the IAEA [Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica] and statements by senior Iranian officials suggesting potential changes to Iran’s nuclear doctrine,” said the statement, signed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The United States announced sanctions against three companies involved in transporting Iranian oil and petrochemical products and identified 11 ships used by them as “blocked property”.
The sanctions applied against these companies include freezing all their assets that are within the United States or “that are or will hereafter be under the possession or control of any US person, including foreign branches,” and freezing the assets of individuals and legal entities that have a 50% or greater stake in these companies.
“We remain committed to never allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and we are prepared to use the full resources of national power to ensure that outcome. Just like the president [Joe] Biden and the other G7 leaders stated this month, Iran must cease its escalation with regard to its nuclear program, as well as its other destabilizing actions,” Blinken added in the statement.
According to a report by Reuters, Iran is enriching uranium to a purity of up to 60% in a quantity that, if enriched to the 90% needed to produce a nuclear weapon, would be enough to produce three weapons of that type.
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