US slaps fresh sanctions against Iran after missile attacks

WASHINGTON - The US government said Friday that it has imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, despite international call for restraint.

The sanctions cover metal manufacturing and other sectors of the Iranian economy, and are both primary and secondary, US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin told reporters at a White House press briefing.

Mnuchin said the Treasury has also designated eight senior Iranian officials, including Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council; Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, deputy chief of staff of Iranian armed force; and others.

"The United States is targeting senior Iranian officials for their involvement and complicity in Tuesday's ballistic missile strikes," Mnuchin claimed in a statement issued by the Treasury.

US President Donald Trump said Friday in a White House statement that the punishing measures aimed at denying Iran revenue that "may be used to fund and support its nuclear program, missile development, terrorism and terrorist proxy networks, and malign regional influence."

Against the backdrop of rising US-Iran tensions, the international community has called for restraint and peaceful resolution by all parties concerned.

Briefing the United Nations (UN) Security Council on Thursday at an open debate on upholding the UN Charter, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lamented that this year began with fresh turmoil and long-standing suffering and geopolitical tensions reached "dangerous levels," most recently in the Gulf.

Recalling the content of the charter, the secretary-general called for peaceful settlement of disputes and highlighted the clear rules governing the use of force as set out in the charter.

China's Permanent Representative to the UN Zhang Jun reaffirmed China's commitment to upholding multilateralism as well as the purposes and principles of the UN Charter at the event.

He said that as a cornerstone of multilateralism, the charter establishes the basic norms governing international relations in the present day, develops generally recognized principles of international law, and charts the way forward for the human society.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, called on Wednesday for dialogue instead of war in the Middle East, saying that "the use of weapons must stop now."

Von der Leyen, head of the European Union's executive arm, also said that "we are called upon to do everything possible to rekindle talks," adding that "there cannot be enough of that."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called for restraint and diplomacy to avoid "a new cycle of instability" in the Middle East.

In a joint statement issued following their meeting, the two leaders urged both the United States and Iran to act with restraint and prioritize diplomacy.

"The use of force does not contribute to finding solutions to complex problems in the Middle East, but would lead to a new cycle of instability," the statement said.

The Pentagon confirmed that Iran had launched 16 ballistic missiles against two military bases housing US and coalition forces in Iraq earlier this week.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) had claimed responsibility for the missile attacks, saying that they were meant to retaliate the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC.

Trump said Wednesday in an address to the nation that "the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime. These powerful sanctions will remain until Iran changes its behavior."

Since its unilateral exit from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Washington has been mounting pressure on Tehran through a series of sanctions. Iran has maintained a tough stance and scaled back its nuclear commitments in response.