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Washington's new measures against Tehran have as their pretext the alleged Iranian chemical weapons program.
The United States government imposed new unilateral coercive measures on Thursday against the Iranian company Shahid Meisami Group and its director for their participation in an alleged program of development of chemical weapons in Tehran.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, in a statement announcing the new sanctions measures, said that "the U.S. will continue to fight any effort by the Iranian regime to develop chemical weapons that can be used by the regime or allied groups to advance its evil agenda."
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In that direction, the United States accused the Shahid Meisami Group and its director, Mehran Babri, of being linked to the previously sanctioned Iranian Defense Innovation and Research Organization.
As a result of these measures, the assets that these entities may have under US jurisdiction are frozen, and financial transactions with US citizens or companies are prohibited.
Today, the United States is sanctioning an Iranian defense entity and individual involved in research for the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) that raises concerns under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) December 3, 2020
In turn, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed "his concern that the regime's true intentions regarding the testing and production of so-called chemical disruptive agents could be used either to oppress Iranian citizens further or for offensive purposes.
This new round of sanctions is part of the "maximum pressure" campaign launched by outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump and announced one month before he is succeeded by the elected president, Democrat Joe Biden. The latter is in favor, on the contrary, of reactivating the 2015 nuclear pact promoted by then President Obama.
In August, the US initiated a procedure before the U.N. to re-establish all the international sanctions against Iran, which were lifted with the 2015 nuclear agreement (from which Washington withdrew in 2018), with the argument that Teheran had failed to comply with its obligations.
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