US imposes new ballistic missile sanctions on Iran

In response to Iran's "continued provocative actions", including a rocket launch on Thursday, the US is imposing new ballistic missile sanctions on Iran, US Treasury Department said on Friday.

The sanctions targeted six Iran-based subsidiaries of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, a company central to Iran's ballistic missile programme, Xinhua quoted a Treasury statement as saying.

On Thursday, Iran launched a space vehicle which used technologies "closely related to those of an intercontinental ballistic missile," representing a "threatening step by Iran," according to the statement.

"The US government will continue to aggressively counter Iran's ballistic missile-related activity," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in the statement.

As a result of sanctions, the six companies' US property would be frozen and US citizens were prohibited from engaging in any transaction with them.

Foreign financial institutions were also warned of possible punitive measure if engaging with those entities.

--IANS

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