Washington Imposes New Sanctions on Iranian Individuals, Entities

In a statement, the US Treasury Department announced that it has published a list of 13 Iranian figures and 12 entities facing new sanctions.

The entities include companies based in Tehran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lebanon and China, the statement noted.

The move came as US National Security Advisor Michael Flynn threatened on Friday that the Trump Administration will no longer tolerate what he described as “Iran's provocations that threaten our interests.”

"The days of turning a blind eye to Iran's hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over," Flynn said in a White House statement.

Also, senior US administration officials had told Reuters news agency that sanctions imposed against Iran were only the "initial steps in response to Iranian provocative behavior."

"Today's action is part of Treasury's ongoing efforts to counter Iranian malign activity abroad that is outside the scope of the JCPOA," the Treasury said in the statement, referring to the Iran nuclear deal reached between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group of countries, including Washington, in 2015.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany has reached a landmark nuclear agreement in 2015, under which Tehran agreed to limit some aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions. The two sides began implementing the deal, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on January 16, 2016.