The US Treasury imposed new sanctions on Iran, targeting ten entities and an oil tanker linked to Tehran.
Before the announcement, a US official revealed that the United States intends to announce sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports.
The official confirmed a Bloomberg News report that said the sanctions would focus on entities that facilitate the oil trade and would be part of a broader plan to tighten sanctions on Tehran in the coming weeks.
Last September, a bipartisan US House of Representatives introduced legislation that would toughen US sanctions against Tehran.
The Iran Sanctions Consolidation Act (SISA) legislation will create a necessary deterrent by targeting the country's energy sector and making it more challenging to finance its proxy groups or ballistic missile development programs.
The Nuclear Deal Is At Stake
The new sanctions come while the Biden administration is still discussing the final details of a new nuclear deal with Iran.
The European Union submitted on August 8, 2022, after long and complex rounds of negotiations that started last April (2021) in Vienna and lasted for 16 months, a final text to overcome the impasse in reviving the Iran deal.
The European coordinator of the nuclear talks, Joseph Borrell, received the first Iranian response in mid-August, followed by the American response to the Iranian remarks and demands. Later, Tehran's reaction came and put the talks in the wind.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that he wouldn't oppose another round of negotiations if the US deems it so and that Washington has reached out to Iranian officials at the US for direct talks between the two to resolve matters between them quicker.